Sharon Osbourne Accused of Using Racist, Anti-Gay Slurs For CBS Co-Hosts: She Has ‘Spoken Abusively For Years’

Sharon Osbourne, co-host of The Talk, has a history of using racist language, anti-gay slurs, and bullying tactics against colleagues and other people, according to sources cited in a report from journalist Yashar Ali.

“Sharon Osbourne, co-host of the CBS daytime panel show ‘The Talk,’ would frequently refer to then-co-host Julie Chen, who is Chinese American, as ‘wonton’ and ‘slanty eyes,’ according to multiple sources, including former co-host Leah Remini,” Ali wrote.

“Osbourne also referred to former co-host and executive producer Sara Gilbert, who is a lesbian, as ‘pussy licker’ and ‘fish eater,’ according to multiple sources including Remini,” Ali added.

The new allegations emerge as Osbourne is facing heightened scrutiny and criticism following an on-air confrontation with co-host Sheryl Underwood over Osbourne’s defense of Piers Morgan. CBS yanked The Talk from the air while an investigation takes place. Osbourne has since apologized for her “panicked” response, and blamed producers for setting her up.

Some of the newly-reported allegations are disturbing.

Actress Leah Remini, the only one of Ali’s 11 sources willing to speak on the record, told Ali that in 2010, before the launch of The Talk, Osbourne took Remini to lunch and tried to convince her to help Osbourne remove co-host Holly Robinson Peete. According to Remini, Osbourne told her that “Holly wasn’t a good person, not to trust her and that we should find ‘another Black person who is funny.’”

Osbourne reportedly based her opinion of Robinson Peete on the time she spent with her when they were both contestants on the Donald Trump-hosted Celebrity Apprentice.

By the end of the first season of The Talk, both Robinson Peete and Remini were fired, “at the direction, according to multiple sources, of Osbourne,” Ali reported.

Osbourne also reportedly tried to limit the role of co-host Julie Chen, wife of then-CBS chief Les Moonves, on the show, and enlisted Remini and Robinson Peete to help her.

“According to Remini, in one exchange during the first season, Osbourne said of Chen: ‘I mean, who the fuck does slanty eyes think she is? She shouldn’t be pillow-talking with our boss,’” Ali reported.

Remini also told Ali of another exchange with Osbourne, about both Chen and former co-host Sara Gilbert. “‘Why won’t the pussy licker do anything about the wonton?’ and ‘Why won’t the fish eater be part of this discussion? She’s the fucking executive producer.’”

Remini also said that Osbourne would use ethnic slurs about Italians against her.

Remini told Ali that she regrets not pushing back against Osbourne’s remarks at the time: “Not only did I do anything about the racism and bullying I was receiving and witnessing, I was party to it. I had to own up to my own ugly.”

In addition to Osbourne’s abusive language toward her coworkers, she reportedly called an Iranian American literary agent who attended a party hosted by Osbourne a “Persian carpet cunt,” and accused her of stealing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry (no criminal charges were filed, and no civil case was pursued).

Osbourne’s publicist said in a statement to Ali that the allegations against the host are from “a disgruntled former talk show host,” and that Osbourne has “been kind, collegial and friendly with her hosts as evidenced by throwing them parties, inviting them to her home in the UK and other gestures of kindness too many to name.”

“Though Osbourne has spoken abusively for years with little to no consequence,” Ali wrote, “she’s facing significant scrutiny for the first time in her career as a TV personality.”