Sharon Osbourne has issued a grovelling apology after publicly defending Piers Morgan over him quitting Good Morning Britain.
The GMB star left his role of five years after saying he didn’t believe Meghan Markle ’s comments about feeling suicidal in her explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
He also stormed off the ITV set after GMB weatherman Alex Beresford criticised the presenter over his treatment of the Duchess of Sussex, calling Piers' behaviour "diabolical".
In the eye of the storm, his friend Sharon, 68, took to US chat show The Talk and said: “I feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend who many people think is a racist, so that makes me a racist.”
However, she later apologised after ‘some reflection’, taking to Twitter to post her thoughts.
Sharon - who has been married to rock legend Ozzy Osbourne for almost 40 years - wrote: “I have always been embraced with so much love and support from the black community and I have deep respect and love for the black community.
“To anyone of colour that I offended and/or to anyone that feels confused or let down by what I said, I am truly sorry.
“I panicked, felt blindsided, got defensive and allowed my fear and horror of being accused of being racist take over.”
She continued: “There are very few things that hurt my heart more than racism so to feel associated with that spun me fast!”
The America’s Got Talent judge went on to insist that she isn’t perfect and “will continue to learn, listen and do better”.
Following Piers’ outburst, which racked up more than 41,000 Ofcom complaints, Sharon was one of the first people to jump to his defence.
"I am with you. I stand by you. People forget that you’re paid for your opinion and that you’re just speaking your truth," said the former X Factor judge on Twitter.
Piers praised the star for publicly supporting him, but Sharon clarified her tweets by insisting she does not “condone racism, misogyny or bullying”.
“I should have been more specific about that in my tweet,” the panelist added. “I will always support freedom of speech, but now I see how I unintentionally didn’t make that clear distinction.”
