Piers Morgan blames bullies after Sharon Osbourne apologizes

Headshots of Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne.

March 12, 2021 11:35 AM PT

Let’s hope someone is getting a bulk rate on apologies and accusations this week, because Piers Morgan is accusing bullies of forcing Sharon Osbourne into an apology after the panelists on “The Talk” got into heated discussions this week regarding whether he’s a racist for disparaging the former Meghan Markle.

Taking notes on this? You probably should, as it’s all gotten a bit complicated.

Osbourne issued an apology overnight for her emotional behavior on the show, saying, “I panicked, felt blindsided, got defensive & allowed my fear & horror of being accused of being racist take over. There are very few things that hurt my heart more than racism so to feel associated with that spun me fast!”

Mrs. O, as she’s called on “The Talk,” insisted Tuesday and Wednesday she had defended Morgan’s right to freedom of speech, not the content of his comments. (Morgan quit “Good Morning Britain” Tuesday after a terse discussion about race, mental health and the Duchess of Sussex.)

Osbourne said Wednesday that she didn’t agree with Morgan’s thoughts on what Meghan said during her and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.

But in her apology posted late Thursday, she stated she should have made that clear from the get-go in her original pro-Piers post.

“Please hear me when I say I do not condone racism, misogyny or bullying,” she wrote on social media. “I should have been more specific about that in my tweet. I will always support freedom of speech, but now I see how I unintentionally didn’t make that clear distinction. I hope we can collectively continue to learn from each other & from ourselves so we can all continue to pave the way for much needed growth & change.”

Meanwhile, Morgan retweeted her note, prefaced by his own comment.

“Sharon’s been shamed & bullied into apologising for defending me against colleagues accusing me of racism because I don’t believe Meghan Markle’s bull—,” he wrote. “This is where we’ve reached. I demand an apology from those bullies @TheTalkCBS for their disgraceful slurs against ME.”

Morgan questioned Meghan’s integrity and slammed the couple’s entire interview Monday on “Good Morning Britain,” which he had cohosted a few days a week since 2014.

“This is a two-hour trash-a-thon of our royal family, of the monarchy, of everything the queen has worked so hard for, and it’s all being done as Prince Philip lies in hospital,” Morgan said on the show. “They trash everybody. They basically make out the entire royal family [are] a bunch of white supremacists by dropping this race bombshell. They didn’t name which one it was. They just throw it out there, so it can be any member of the royal family.”

After cohost Susanna Reid brought up Meghan’s talk about suicidal thoughts and other mental health issues, Morgan said, “I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she says, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe her if she read me a weather report, and the fact that she’s fired up this onslaught against our royal family I think is contemptible.”

The conversation continued the next day, after the interview ran in the U.K., culminating with Morgan’s departure.

The Monday show drew more than 41,000 complaints to the British regulatory authority, Ofcom, reportedly including one filed by Meghan and Harry’s representatives.

Tuesday on “The Talk,” Osbourne backed Morgan, saying he was paid to give his opinion. Her fellow panelists criticized him for his words and for what they saw as his inability to handle personal criticism.

Osbourne, who had been a judge on “America’s Got Talent” alongside Morgan, said Morgan should have stayed and listened to weatherman Alex Beresford rather than walk off set after Beresford brought up Morgan’s erstwhile friendship with the duchess.

But by Wednesday the tone on the show had grown tense.

“Why is it that because I supported a longtime friend and work colleague of mine, for years, that everybody goes, ‘If you support him, then you must be racist, because he’s racist,’” she said. The conversation spun downward from there, with Osbourne ultimately asking cohost Sheryl Underwood, who is Black, to educate her on what Morgan had said that was racist.

“It’s not the exact words of racism. It’s the implication and the reaction to it. To not want to address that because she is a Black woman and to try to dismiss it or to make it seem less than what it is, that’s what makes it racist,” Underwood said, adding that she didn’t want anyone to think the panel was attacking Osbourne for being racist.

Osbourne quipped, “I think it’s too late. I think that seed’s already sown.” Then she wondered why Morgan couldn’t dislike a person of color without it being seen as racist.

“There’s a difference between bigotry, prejudice and racism,” Underwood replied. “To speak upon something and not accept what she is saying, what Meghan has been saying, it could be true, and the responses to that could be true, and the fact that you don’t even want to take into consideration that her desire to want to end her own life is connected to her race.

“That dismissal,” she said, “makes it a racist situation.”

In her mea culpa, Osbourne wrote about getting longtime love and support from the Black community and mentioned giving love and respect in return. “To anyone of color that I offended and/or to anyone that feels confused or let down by what I said, I am truly sorry,” she stated.

“I hope we can all hold each other up with accountability, compassion and love during this powerful time of paving the way for so much needed change,” Osbourne wrote.

Morgan, meanwhile, posted a handwritten letter on social media noting that this was the third time he’d lost a job for sticking to his principles.

He explained that by disbelieving Meghan, he “became the latest ‘victim’ of the cancel culture that is permeating our country, every minute, of every hour, of everyday. Though of course, I consider myself to be neither a victim, nor actually cancelled.”

The “Wake Up” author retweeted a Sun column that said he was “dead right” to quit “Good Morning Britain.”

“The Sussexes had their say, without any meaningful scrutiny from their interviewer. Morgan should have been allowed his, without being told to make a meaningless apology and losing his job when he refused,” the Sun column read. “The world is a dangerous place when only one version of events is allowed.”

There is also a petition now with more than 135,000 signatures from fans asking that Morgan and his “common sense approach to life” be returned to “Good Morning Britain.”

Those who missed Prince Harry and Meghan’s interview or want to see it again can catch it on TV tonight at 8 p.m. Pacific and Eastern on CBS.