After 10 years as a co-host on CBS' The Talk, Sharon Osbourne exited the chat show in 2021 on the heels of controversy, which started when the panel began discussing Piers Morgan, a close friend of Osbourne’s, and his infamous Good Morning Britain walkout over Meghan Markle at the time. Things got notably heated on-air when Sheryl Underwood accused Osbourne of giving a pass for racist behavior. In the wake of the tense situation, further accusations surfaced claiming she used racist and homophobic language about former Talk co-hosts. The dust has mostly settled there, but when the 69-year-old was asked if she’d ever return to the daytime talk show, and per usual, she delivered some strong words for CBS on that score.
It wasn’t ever likely that Sharon Osbourne and CBS would reach a future reconciliation to make a potential return to The Talk feasible, given the scandalous nature of her ousting. But just in case anyone at the network had plans about sending her a request through the grapevine, they'd be better off saving themselves the trouble, because the answer is already a hard no. Osbourne told TMZ recently:
I would never go back to that show because CBS sucks big time dick.
Probably not a whole lot of people out there with extremely shocked faces, all things considered. And perhaps somewhere down the line, that opinion will shrink and the prospect could reach somewhere resembling possible, but that time is definitely not now.
Sharon Osbourne said as much (and a bit more) in the wake of her firing. Speaking to Bill Maher in April, she refuted claims that she was racist and blamed the whole ordeal on “woke” culture. A few months later, she accused the showrunners and CBS head of daytime of being “hypocrites” and “liars.” The wife of Ozzy Osbourne also alleged that the network essentially “destroyed” her by allowing the contentious conversation to turn the way it did. Their daughter, Kelly Osbourne, later backed up her mom in the press, saying “fuck cancel culture,” among other things.
Quite a few issues have cropped up on daytime talk shows over politically charged topics, even just in the time since Sharon Osbourne’s exit. Arguably the most reported on has been the on-air drama between Meghan McCain and Joy Behar and other co-hosts on ABC’s The View, with McCain making her own exit not long after. She candidly reflected that being the sole conservative viewpoint was “isolating” within an already “toxic work environemnt.”
More recently on that same show, McCain's former colleague Whoopi Goldberg was put on a two-week suspension for controversial Holocaust remarks made on-air. McCain weighed in on that issue, too, saying that there is a double standard when it comes to more liberal views versus conservative ones on daytime TV. She might not use the same language as Osbourne, but it's fair to think she feels the same about a future return to The View.
On the flip side, talk show host Wendy Williams would probably love to return to her main gig. She, too, has faced some backlash for controversial on-air opinions in recent years, but has sparked more unfortunate headlines recently, due to ongoing health issues that have kept her from hosting her namesake show, which has been using temporary hosts to fill in during her absence. After weeks of concerning reports about her health and financial situation, the decision was made to cancel her show, with her time slot being permanently filled by Sherri Shepherd and her own new talk show.
Likewise, the gap on The Talk left by Sharon Osbourne was soon filled by Jerry O’Connell last year. Other newbies were brought into the fold for Season 12, including Natalie Morales and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, with Amanda Kloots and Sheryl Underwood returning once again. Clearly, though, the bad blood with Osbourne has not been eradicated.
Catch new episodes of The Talk airing weekly on CBS at 2 p.m. EST or streaming on Paramount+ with a subscription. Head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the horizon!
