Kelly Osbourne Regrets 2015 Comments About Latinos: “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done”

Nearly ten years after first finding herself in hot water for comments about Latinos on The View, Kelly Osbourne is elaborating on her regret about the incident.

“I was a really broken, scared person,” Osbourne told Rolling Stone this week, referring to herself at the time of the 2015 backlash. “After that event, it kind of kickstarted me taking a long, hard look at myself.”

Osbourne’s comments came about during her stint as a guest host on The View, when she questioned the former president’s immigration ban by asking, “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?”

At the time, The View co-host Rosie Perez responded by saying that “Latinos are not only — ” before Osbourne added, “I didn’t mean it like that. Come on! I would never mean it like that! I’m not part of this argument.”

Many online shamed Osbourne for her words and the musician and TV personality quickly apologized on Facebook, writing, “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 fucked up today. I don’t want to bullshit anyone with lame excuses.”

To Rolling Stone this week, Osbourne elaborated on her perspective, saying that she’s aware her comments “hurt a lot of people” and called the incident “the worst thing I’ve ever done.”

“During that time, my dad [Ozzy Osbourne] had just cheated on my mother [Sharon Osbourne],” she continued. “I was drinking to numb the pain of everything. I was a trash can when it came to drugs, whatever I could get my hands on.”

“Nobody wants to hear from a white person about race,” Osbourne continued. “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.”

In the interview, she also emphasized her enduring respect for Latin American people. “I feel very strongly that Latin American culture is the backbone of America,” she said. “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,” Osbourne 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.”

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