Sticking by their friend. Whoopi Goldberg and Raven-Symone came to Kelly Osbourne’s defense on Wednesday, Aug. 5, after the former E! Fashion Police co-host was accused of racism for making an insensitive comment about Latinos during Tuesday’s episode of The View.
“I want to just start by making something clear: The point she was actually trying to make was that Donald Trump’s stance on immigration will only end up hurting the people that Donald Trump is counting on,” Goldberg, 59, said on The View Wednesday. “I think that’s what she was trying to say. One of the things that happens on live television is you’re trying to get your point in and you sometimes step in dog doo. It does not make you a racist.”
Osbourne, 30, received backlash Tuesday for her comments about Latinos while taking aim at Trump. “In what way does he think that people are going to vote for him after he’s just called them rapists and murderers?” she said. “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilets, Donald Trump?”
Rosie Perez and Raven-Symone initially reacted negatively to Osbourne’s comments, which were also slammed on Twitter. The star later apologized for her remarks via Facebook, noting that she used a “poor choice of words.”
On Wednesday, Raven-Symone, 29, then backed Osbourne amid the controversy. “I’m best friends with Kelly. We’re growing a friendship closer and closer every day,” the former child star said. “I know her mother [Sharon Osbourne] and I don’t think she’d be a racist if she was friends with me. Do you know what I’m saying?”
Nicolle Wallace, however, had a different opinion. The conservative political commentator — who was not present when Osbourne made the remark — questioned whether her co-hosts’ friendship with Osbourne was a factor in their willingness to forgive and forget.
“What struck me was that you guys know her heart, and it was so instant that you were able to forgive her. It made me wonder if we gave that kind of benefit of the doubt to people that we are ideologically opposed to, what a game changer that would be,” Wallace, 43, said Wednesday. “I mean, if Ted Cruz said that, or Mike Huckabee said that, I can picture all of you looking in the camera, saying, ‘I’m going to do something in my toilet to you.'”
One person who isn’t getting involved in the debate? Osbourne’s former Fashion Police co-host Giuliana Rancic, who found herself in a similar situation back in February 2015, when she joked that Zendaya Coleman’s dreadlocks looked like they smelled like patchouli. Critics, and Osbourne, took Rancic to task for the remark – but she’s staying quiet on this latest controversy.
“I don’t think I need to comment,” Rancic, 40, said during E! News Tuesday. “I’ve got to take the high road on this.”
