Kelly Osbourne breaks silence on viral The View comment about Latinos: ‘The worst thing I’ve ever done’

‘If you kick every Latino out of this country,’ Osbourne said in 2015. ‘Then who is going to be cleaning your toilets, Donald Trump?’

Kelly Osbourne has spoken publicly for the first time about comments she made about Latinos during a 2015 appearance on talk show The View.

Osbourne, who first became famous on MTV reality show The Osbournes, was taking part in a discussion about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump who had recently announced his campaign with a speech that claimed: “Mexico isn’t sending their best.”

In response, Osbourne said: “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilets, Donald Trump?”

Her fellow panelists reacted with shock, including actor Rosie Perez (who is of Puerto Rican descent) who said with a wince: “Oh, that’s not...”

The clip has frequently gone viral on social media in the years since the incident.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Osbourne, 39, expressed her regret about what she said.

“Oh my God, I died,” she said. “It hurt a lot of people, and that to me, by far makes it the worst thing I’ve ever done. I realized that I’m not great on live TV and that words are so powerful. And to be labeled as something you’re not is really difficult. But it happened. There’s nothing I can do.”

Kelly Osbourne in Los Angeles, September 2023 (Araya Doheny/Getty Images for The Art of Elysium)

Asked to clarify what she meant by the remark, Osbourne said: “I feel very strongly that Latin American culture is the backbone of America. 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.”

The London-born star added: “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.”

In reference to the fact that the clip continues to be shared widely on social media and has been parodied as a meme, she added: “It goes to show that people never forget. And even though I’m the butt of the joke, I’m still laughing. And some of them are very smart. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hate myself a little bit more each time I see it.”

She added that the person she sees when she watches the clip herself is: “a self-righteous little c***. I hate it. I hate it so much because I look at it and I’m like, “You think you know everything and you know nothing. Nobody wants to hear [your] opinion on this.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Osbourne hit back at critics who have called her a “nepo baby” by saying she’s “proud” of that status.