If you happen to be a white celebrity who’s been “cancelled”—or held accountable for doing something racist on the job—Real Time with Bill Maher is the perfect place to kick off your “White Victimhood” tour. And, following in the venerable footsteps of alt-right bigot Milo Yiannopoulos and blackface apologist Megyn Kelly, Maher has chosen to use his influential platform to cry “cancel culture!” in defense of another wealthy racist: Sharon Osbourne.
In case you missed it, after Osbourne issued a full-throated on-air defense of Piers Morgan’s insensitive comments toward Meghan Markle on her daytime talk show The Talk, she was confronted by two of her Black co-hosts—Sheryl Underwood and Elaine Welteroth. When Underwood became emotional while discussing the racist treatment that Markle had faced, Osbourne scolded her, saying, “And don’t try and cry, because if anyone should be crying, it should be me.”
Reports subsequently emerged of Osbourne’s “long history of racist language and bullying,” with journalist Yashar Ali revealing that Osbourne had called former co-host Julie Chen “wonton” and “slanty eyes”; referred to co-host and executive producer Sara Gilbert, who is a lesbian, as “pussy licker” and “fish eater”; and described Iranian-American agent Renee Tab as a “Persian carpet cunt,” as well as falsely accused her of stealing jewelry. Holly Robinson Peete, a Black woman, also shared a damning story about Osbourne, tweeting, “I’m old enough to remember when Sharon complained that I was too ‘ghetto’ for #theTalk … then I was gone. I bring this up now bc I was mortified watching the disrespectful condescending tone she took w/her co host who remained calm & respectful because … she HAD to.”
