Kelly Osbourne Addresses 2015 Comments About Latinos: ‘Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done’

Kelly Osbourne is looking back nearly a decade later on the offensive comment about Latino people she made on The View, calling it “the worst thing I’ve ever done.” The daughter of Ozzy Osbourne addressed the incident, which has recently been going viral on TikTok, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, saying she knows what she said “hurt a lot of people” and resulted in her “taking a long, hard look at myself.”

The controversial moment went down during Kelly’s guest hosting stint on The View in 2015, during which she questioned former president Donald Trump’s immigration ban, asking, “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?” The View co-host Rosie Perez chimed in, “Latinos are not only -” but was cut off by Kelly, who explained, “I didn’t mean it like that. Come on! I would never mean it like that! I’m not part of this argument.”

At the time, Kelly faced backlash online, prompting a Facebook apology reading in part, “I will take responsibility for my poor choice of words but I will not apologize for being a racist as I am NOT. I whole-hearted f-ed up today. I don’t want to bullsh-t anyone with lame excuses.” Kelly continued to apologize to Rolling Stone last week, saying that at the time, she was a “trash can when it came to drugs,” as she wanted to “numb the pain” of everything, including her father’s infidelity towards her mother, Sharon Osbourne. 

“Nobody wants to hear from a white person about race,” Kelly continued of what she’s learned since 2015. “No one. They don’t. I learned that the hard way. Like I said, it is time for us to accept the change that’s happening and embrace it and support it rather than being scared and feeling like someone’s taking something away from you. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but like I said, it’s time to sit down and shut up.”

She continued, “I feel very strongly that Latin American culture is the backbone of America. I believe that Latin Americans are the hardest-working people you will ever meet. And their connection to family and their culture is closer to mine than the American way. I’ve never tried to be American. I never wanted to be a part of a country where there’s so much hate and there’s so much misinformation and kick them when they’re down mentality.”

“Everybody needs to take a long, hard look at themselves,” Kelly added. “Not everybody. That’s wrong. White people need to take a long hard look, check their privilege and be a little bit more open-minded. A lot more open-minded.”