Over the weekend, CBS announced that their show The Talk is “currently under internal review” following a heated on-air exchange between the show’s hosts on Wednesday (March 10). The controversial discussion resulted from co-host Sharon Osbourne defending Piers Morgan.
Variety now reports that the show is taking “a brief hiatus” while the network’s investigation continues, with Monday and Tuesday’s shows canceled.
A source tells the industry trade that “The plan is currently to return to filming on Wednesday… but the show will evaluate and see where they are before moving forward.” CBS declined to comment.
Piers Morgan, you may be aware, either quit or was fired (depending on who you ask) from Good Morning Britain following Oprah Winfrey’s recent incendiary interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. During the interview, the couple alleged racism on the part of the royal family, and Markle admitted she had struggled with suicidal thoughts.
The weatherman for Good Morning Britain, Alex Beresford, subsequently called out Morgan, mid-show, for consistently using his air time to berate Markle and question her claims (he went so far as to say he didn’t believe Markle had suicidal thoughts). Morgan furiously stormed off the set in the middle of Beresford’s commentary.
After it was announced that Morgan would not be returning to Good Morning Britain, Osbourne sent out a tweet of support:
“@piersmorgan 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.”
This, in turn, led to Osborne getting into a verbal altercation with her co-hosts on The Talk (the episode, notably, is not currently available online). As reported by Deadline:
“Sharon Osbourne became emotional and combative during a discussion with her co-hosts about how her public support for Piers Morgan following his comments about Meghan Markle is being perceived. [Co-host] Sheryl Underwood [who is African American] noted that ‘while you are standing by you your friend, it appears that you are giving validation or safe haven to something that he has uttered that is racist.’”
The report continues:
“’I feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend who many people think is racist, so that makes me a racist,’ Osbourne said, before asking Underwood to be precise about how Morgan has been racist.
“’I will ask you again Sheryl… and don’t try and cry because if anyone should be crying, it should be me. This is the situation, you tell me where you have heard him say racist things. Educate me,’ Osbourne said. Underwood replied that it wasn’t ‘exact words of racism’ but ‘the implication and the reaction to it.’”
Following a “a closed-door meeting among the hosts” after the show, Osbourne tweeted out an apology to “anyone of colour that I offended and/or to anyone that feels confused, or let down by what I said.” She blamed her comments on feeling “panicked” and “blindsided” by the discussion, and says she thus “got defensive.”
Things got worse for Osbourne on Friday, March 12, however, after one The Talk‘s former co-hosts, Holly Robinson Peete, alleged that Osbourne “complained that I was too ‘ghetto’” for the show. She also implied that Osbourne was responsible for her departure from the program.
Morgan, meanwhile, has stood up for Osbourne and demanded an apology from The Talk:
“Sharon’s been shamed & bullied into apologising for defending me against colleagues accusing me of racism because I don’t believe Meghan Markle’s bullsh*t. This is where we’ve reached. I demand an apology from those @TheTalkCBS bullies for their disgraceful slurs against ME.”