Kelly Osbourne is breaking her silence on a past controversial comment that went viral
during her guest host stint on The View.
“Oh my God, I died. It hurt a lot of people, and that to me, is by far makes it the worst thing I’ve ever done,” Osbourne told Rolling Stone in an interview published on Thursday, January 18. “I realized that I’m not great on live TV and that words are so powerful. And to be labeled as something you’re not is really difficult. But it happened. There’s nothing I can do.”
While appearing on the ABC talk show in August 2015, Osbourne, 39, was discussing former President Donald Trump’s campaign and his stance on immigration and said, “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilets, Donald Trump?”
The camera panned to Osbourne who quickly realized what she had said on live TV. She then attempted to backpedal, saying, “In the sense that … You know what I mean? I didn’t mean it like that. Come on!”
Following her controversial remark, Osbourne received backlash and took to Facebook to apologize for her “poor choice of words.” However, she added that she “will not apologize for being racist as I am NOT.”
Years later, the clip has now resurfaced on social media, with people sharing their own takes on the video. While Osbourne said it’s “the most cringe moment” of her entire life, she shared that it “put a smile” on her face to see people “be creative” with the trend, adding that “it turns something so ugly into something funny.”
“This whole country is built on immigrants, and if you stop people from coming into this country who do the jobs that make this country exist and thrive and flourish, who’s going to do all the jobs that you don’t want to do yourself?” she said. “It came out so wrong.”
When Osbourne watches the viral trend now, she said she’s “still laughing” even though she’s “the butt of the joke.” She added that the video resurfacing now “goes to show that people never forget.”
“But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hate myself a little bit more each time I see it,” she said.
Osbourne noted that she made the comment during a “really, really” hard time in her life, where she had just gotten back from rehab for her anxiety, depression and childhood trauma. Her dad, Ozzy Osbourne, had also just cheated on her mother, Sharon Osbourne.
To cope, Kelly admitted she was “drinking to numb the pain” and was a “trash can” with drugs. The comment “kick-started” Kelly into taking a “long, hard look” at herself and making changes.
“I mean, I received death threats,” she said. “I used to have this freedom where people liked my crazy opinions and they liked the shock factor of it. And I fed into it a lot because I didn’t understand it. I’ve learned when to shut up and to stop talking. I’m definitely not the person I was before that incident.”
Now, Kelly is a mom to son Sidney, 12 months, whom she plans to share the video with in the future. (Kelly shares her son with boyfriend Sid Wilson.)
“That is probably the cherry on the cake of how painful all of this is,” she said of having to explain the video to her son. “I want him to understand what I was trying to say and how powerful words are.”
