Britons are apparently breaking down.
Television host Piers Morgan stormed off the set of ITV’s Good Morning Britain Tuesday morning after being called to task about controversial comments he made about Meghan Markle. The next day, Sharon Osbourne ranted at the beginning of CBS’ The Talk, demanding that Sheryl Underwood, one of her Black co-hosts, educate her on a time when Morgan had made racist comments.
“I will ask you again, Sheryl — I’ve been asking you during the break, and I’m asking you again. And don’t try and cry because if anyone should be crying, it should be me,” Osbourne warned Underwood.
“You tell me, educate me, when you have heard (Morgan) say racist things. Educate me! Tell me!” she screamed, interrupting Underwood, the longtime comedienne, who tried calmly to explain.
Wiping her eyes and nose, Osbourne finally stopped yelling long enough for Underwood to attempt to address her.
“It is not the exact words of racism; it’s the implication and the reaction to it,” she said. “To not want to address that because she was a Black woman, to try and dismiss it; that’s what makes it racist.”
“But right now, I’m talking to a woman who I believe is my friend,” Underwood continued, “and I don’t want anybody to watch this and (think) we’re attacking you for being racist.”
“I think it’s too late,” Osbourne snapped in reply. “I think that seed’s already sown.”
One viewer wrote on Twitter: “Sharon Osbourne is on TV ruining her career right now…what are you thinking? You have Black women SPOONFEEDING you answers, generously giving their own experiences, and your main concern is bickering over them. She said, ‘I feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair.’”
Read More: Prince William on Meghan, Harry interview: ‘We are not a racist family’
Osbourne started her rant asking, “Why is it that because I supported a longtime friend and work colleague for years, people go, ‘Well, you must be racist because he’s racist.'”
“No. I support his freedom of speech,” she maintained. “I’m not racist, and neither is Piers racist.”
Osbourne called it “a terrible, evil word to call anyone.”
Read More: Meghan Markle made formal complaint to ITV about Piers Morgan’s comments
“What have I ever said about anybody that’s racist?” she asked. “It’s not within me. It’s not in my soul.”
Viewers of Wednesday’s episode of The Talk expressed concern for Underwood and new co-host Elaine Welteroth, given the historic power dynamics of white women in corporate America.
On Tuesday, Osbourne tweeted her support of Morgan, saying, “I am with you. I stand by you. People forget that you’re paid for your opinion and that you’re just speaking your truth.”
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