Sheryl Underwood Says She Can't Be 'The Angry Black Woman' Years After Sharon Osbourne Feud
Sheryl Underwood has broken her silence on the public fallout she had with former co-host Sharon Osbourne on The Talk back in 2021.
The two got into a verbal squabble regarding race when Osbourne defended Piers Morgan's comments about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their interview with Oprah Winfrey. Morgan stated he did not believe the allegations of the royal family's racism, put forth by Markle.
The conversation quickly became heated, leading to her firing, as many deemed Osbourne's comments "tone deaf." Underwood appeared on Club Shay Shay in an interview published January 22, where she gave additional details regarding 2021's fiery fallout.
The clip begins with host Shannon Sharpe's admission that he could relate to the verbal altercation, citing his own public fallout with former sports co-host Skip Bayless after a heated debate regarding Tom Brady, which later became personal.
"You know me, Shannon. You know if someone's yelling at me, I'm not crying because you hurt me. I'm crying because I can't say what I want to say," Underwood, 61, explained, comparing the fallout to the moment Bayless told him to "put his glasses back on."
The two agreed that had he responded the way he wanted to, he wouldn't have his hit YouTube series Club Shay Shay or ESPN job, prompting Underwood to say that God was "preparing" him for the strength to face such obstacles.
"When she's yelling, 'What are you gonna do?' and I turn to the camera and go, 'We're gonna go on a break, we'll be right back.' That let the world know, she's ready to be here," Underwood detailed.
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"I represent every Black woman in the world," the comedian added, prompting Sharpe to agree. "We cannot be seen as the 'angry Black woman' because now you are messing up somebody else's job, somewhere else."
Osbourne later stated she regretted apologizing to Underwood.
"I apologized to her, I didn't want to because I felt I didn't do anything wrong," Osbourne, 72, stated last year, per Dateline. "But my kid said to me, 'Just apologize to her. Maybe you're wrong and she read you wrong or something, just in case, apologize.' And I did."
"I apologized to her. I called her. She wouldn't pick up my calls and then she lied and said I never apologized. I have it all documented on my phone. You can never say that anymore because your a** is busted," she concluded at that time.
Osbourne — who admitted that she had "A go at her friend" while on set — revealed she maintained a "f**k you" energy at that time.
"F*** you! She knew what I was. She'd been in my home, she'd gone to England with me. She always joked that she wanted to be an Osbourne and she wanted to marry my son Jack," she explained of their relationship.
Per the news outlet, Osbourne stated it took a lot of time before she was no longer feeling angry about the situation, and being labeled a racist.
