Kelly Osbourne has some very strong words to say about herself when it comes to her past comments on The View.
Let’s rewind. During an appearance on the talk show in August 2015, the 39-year-old joined Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez, Raven-Symoné, and Michelle Collins to discuss Donald Trump’s anti-immigration speeches and problematic rhetoric during his presidential campaign. In an attempt to slam his remarks, Kelly ended up saying something beyond offensive:
“If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilets, Donald Trump?”
What the f**k?!?
As everyone in the room audibly gasped, Kelly immediately realized she messed up big time on live television and attempted to clarify her statement. However, the damage was already done by that point! And the comments did not go over well with viewers!
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Following the show, the former reality star faced a ton of backlash. Kelly apologized for her “poor choice of words” at the time — but she made it clear she wouldn’t “apologize for being racist as I am NOT.” Seriously?! Now, almost a decade after the controversy, her words are coming back to haunt her again. A video of the episode has resurfaced on TikTok and gone viral over the past two weeks, with people giving their own takes on it.
Kelly has been forced to face her offensive remarks. However, she is not shying away from talking about what happened now. Amid the video circulating around on social media again, Kelly broke her yearslong silence on the matter in a candid interview with Rolling Stone on Thursday. Calling herself “a self-righteous little c**t” back then, she said of the controversial video:
“I hate it. I hate it so much because I look at it and I’m like, ‘You think you know everything and you know nothing. Nobody wants to hear [your] opinion on this.’”
But she still took a moment to clarify what she meant to say at the time! Kelly explained:
“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? It came out so wrong.”
Yeah, it did. Kelly added that she feels “very strongly that Latin American culture is the backbone of America,” pointing out that “Latin Americans are the hardest-working people you will ever meet.” Looking back, the Fashion Police alum recognized she “hurt a lot of people” with her offensive statement. She further noted it was “by far makes it the worst thing I’ve ever done,” adding:
“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.”
Although Kelly doesn’t want to make excuses for her actions, she shared with the outlet that she was going through a “really, really” hard time in her life back then. She had gone to rehab for her anxiety, depression, and childhood trauma. On top of that, her father, Ozzy Osbourne, had cheated on her mother Sharon. In order to get through it all, the television personality began “drinking to numb the pain” and “was a trash can when it came to drugs.” However, she got a wake-up call when the incident on The View happened.
The Osbournes star said “it kind of kick-started” her to take “a long, hard look at” herself about what she needed to change moving forward. She continued:
“I mean, I received death threats. 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.”
As for the resurfaced clip? Even though “the most cringe moment” of her life is a viral trend on social media these days, Kelly said she watches the videos people have created as it “does put a smile” on her face to see people turn “something so ugly into something funny”:
“It goes to show that people never forget. And even though I’m the butt of the joke, I’m still laughing. And some of them are very smart. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hate myself a little bit more each time I see it.”
Being a mom to her 12-month-old son Sidney, Kelly hopes to teach him about white privilege and anti-racism. She even plans to show him the controversial video one day:
“That is probably the cherry on the cake of how painful all of this is. I want him to understand what I was trying to say and how powerful words are.”
What are YOUR thoughts on what Kelly had to say, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below. You can read the entire interview HERE.
[Image via TODAY with Hoda & Jenna/Francisco The Mage/YouTube]
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