Sharon Osbourne weighed in again on the controversy surrounding Gabrielle Union's firing from America's Got Talent and called out Simon Cowell for running a "boys club" on his shows. Cowell is an executive producer of AGT and The X Factor U.K., both of which Osbourne has been a judge on.
"It is a boys club, OK? It is," Osbourne, 67, said on Tuesday's episode of The Talk. "And the boys take care of each other, and the women are not paid as much as the men."
Osbourne appeared on AGT for six years when Cowell was only behind-the-scenes.
"I was on the show before Howie [Mandel]. I was one of them that helped put the show where it was. Simon wasn't on the show. 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 jabbed. "I just go back to Simon's shows — The X Factor he brought to America, every time it came on I think there were three seasons there [were] different little girls."
On the first season of The X Factor U.S., Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger (who replaced Cheryl Cole midseason) were judges along with Cowell, 60, and producer L.A. Reid, 63. The women were replaced by Britney Spears and Demi Lovato who joined Cowell and Reid for Season 2.
"There was [Simon], L.A. Reid, who’s an older man, and in between them was Demi Lovato and Britney Spears," Osbourne continued. "The guys looked like two high rollers in Vegas who picked up a couple of kids. No, it's true! They looked like dirty old men beside these two little girls.”
Osbourne previously claimed Cowell had her fired from The X Factor U.K. because she was "too old." Former AGT judge Howard Stern blasted Cowell this week, alleging AGT switches out female judges for "hotter chicks and younger chicks."
"And I was open, I told L.A. Reid and I told Simon, it's nothing I wouldn't say to their face — 'You look like two dirty old men,'" she added. "And excuse me, but these are kids, they can't be judging other kids no matter how successful they are."
Source : aol.com/entertainment