Sharon Osbourne Slams 'America's Got Talent' as 'Boys' Club', Rails Against NBC Amid Gabrielle Union Firing

Sharon Osbourne has more to say about NBC and America's Got Talent. A day after she alluded to her [...]

By Libby Birk

Sharon Osbourne has more to say about NBC and America's Got Talent. A day after she alluded to her own issues with the network during her time on the reality talent competition, she again spoke out against it and the show in the wake of Gabrielle Union's controversial firing. Osbourne, 67, elaborated on her thoughts during Tuesday's episode of The Talk, claiming that AGT was very much a "boys' club" where the female judges were not treated equally in comparison to their male counterparts.

"It is a boys' club, OK, it is," she said. "And the boys can take care of each other and the women are not paid as much as the men."

Osbourne went on to note that she was brought on as a judge before Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel but said she was never treated as well as them, despite the positive ratings she claims she brought in. Osbourne was a judge on the show from Season 2 through 7.

"I was on the show before Howie. I was one of them that helped put the show where it was. Simon wasn't on the show," she said. "Simon owns the show and the time I was there, Simon was never on the show. So when the show was doing 16 million, 14 million, Simon was never there."

She also alleged that as soon as Mandel, 64, joined the series, he received better travel accommodations than her. "They brought Howie in. He go this own plane," she said.

"I love Howie, and I don't begrudge anyone earning what they earn... But, when my old ass has been there shooting the show, and I get an American Airlines ticket and he gets a private plane. And I get that because I'm me and I'm not in the club and I'm not one of the guys," she continued. "NBC can kiss my a—."

She also bashed Cowell's UK show The X Factor, where he was a judge alongside record executive L.A. Reid. "In between them was Demi Lovato and Britney Spears. The guys looked like two high rollers in Vegas who picked up a couple of kids. They looked like dirty old men beside these two little girls," Osbourne said. "I told L.A. Reid and I told Simon, it's nothing I wouldn't say to their face."

"These are kids," she added. "They can't be judging other kids no matter how successful they are!"

Osbourne's latest comments come after NBC announced that Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough would not return to AGT next season as judges. A report from Variety details that Union raised multiple racial issues with producers and NBC executives and that both women received multiple notes about their appearances throughout their single season as judges — with four sources telling the outlet that Union was told multiple times that her various hairstyles were "too black" for AGT audiences.

On Monday, Osbourne alluded to her own issues with NBC and the show, but didn't get as specific as she did on Tuesday. "Everybody's experience on the show is different, and I was at that show for six years," she said at the time. "I didn't get let go. I left. And that's the truth. I left because of NBC, not because of the show. I had my own problems with the network.

"I don't know about any of her [Union's] concerns about the show," Osbourne said. "Obviously, there wasn't anybody of color on the panel when I was there. So, I honestly can't say. But when I was there it was, you know, a great show to work on."

"The crew and everybody was amazing to me — everybody except the network."

Photo credit: Frazer Harrison / Staff / Getty

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