By Kathryn DeNicola
Sharon Osbourne: Jack Was Fired Over MS Diagnosis
Sharon Osbourne, one of the judges on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, says she won’t be on a show for a network that fired her son, Jack. Jack Osbourne, who was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, claims he was fired two days before he was scheduled to come to work for NBC’s Stars Earn Stripes, an action-packed reality series.
Jack told Sharon on The Talk, her CBS daytime talk show, that he was removed from the cast and the company that hired him didn’t think he could do the job. Jack Osbourne says no one should tell him what he can or can’t do.
Sharon Osbourne is threatening to quit America's Got Talent because she claims NBC fired her son from an upcoming reality show due to his MS diagnosis. (s_bukley / Shutterstock.com)
Sharon Osbourne told the New York Post that she is quitting America’s Got Talent because the network fired her son. The final straw was when NBC executives sent an email saying they were “booting him from the boot camp themed show because of his MS.”
Sharon says she “just can’t be fake – it’s discrimination and it was badly handled, it’s time to move on.”
Stars Earn Stripes: Jack Osborne Was Never Hired
The producers for Stars Earn Stripes, which put celebrities against celebrities in military style training exercises, claim they never hired Jack Osbourne for their show.
According to the producers, they required potential participants to undergo medical vetting to make sure they could safely participate, they did not ask Jack Osbourne to participate in Stars Earn Stripes. The producers say that NBC does not discriminate on any basis.
Jack’s response? A tweet saying “NBC said didn’t fire me over my diagnosis? Bull #$& #boycottNBC.”
Ian Drew, Senior Editor of Us Weekly, said “This is something that Jack has had to deal with for the first time. He now not only has a disease but he’s dealing with losing work over it, losing money over it and having people look at him as not capable of doing the things he knows he is capable of doing.”
Haunted Highway: Jack Osborne SyFy Project
Jack isn’t exactly out of work. Last month he appeared on Good Morning America and told Robin Roberts that his diagnosis isn’t stopping him. Jack Osbourne is working on a show on SyFy called Haunted Highway, where he films investigations into the paranormal and the haunted.
Sharon Osbourne Vs NBC: America’s Got Talent
Sharon Osbourne is still under contract with NBC but says they can not force her to do something she doesn’t want to do.
Adding to the mystery is that Sharon hinted about leaving America’s Got Talent as recently as two weeks ago tweeting “money is not the reason I’m not returning….”
This led some to speculate that Jack Osbourne getting fired is not the final straw, and there may be other conflicts Sharon is having with NBC.
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