Sharon Osbourne Compares NBC To The Titanic On Letterman

Sharon Osbourne remembers her manners just fine, thank you very much: "If you don't have anything nice to say about NBC, say it on a CBS late-night talk show hosted by an ex-NBC employee who left with a bad taste in his mouth years ago."

It goes something like that, doesn't it?

Once Mrs. Ozzy Osbourne made it once more clear Monday night on "The Late Show with David Letterman" that she's ending her run as "America's Got Talent" co-judge after six seasons, the harsh-tongued Osbourne laid into NBC and made it clear where she sees the network's place in the pecking order heading.

"I've done it for six years and this show is the most fabulous show to work on. ... You know when your gut tells you it's time to move on, to do other things," she said. "I truly do love the show. If I wasn't on it, I'd still watch." It was when Letterman curiously asked why she'd leave a show she so loves that Osbourne quipped, "Wasn't it terrible about the Titanic? Shame, wasn't it?"

Subtle.

Earlier this month, Osbourne publicly accused NBC of dismissing her son, Jack, from its freshman celebrity-competition reality series "Stars Earn Stripes" over Jack's previous diagnosis with multiple sclerosis. Sharon called the move "discrimination" and "badly handled," shortly before announcing she would exit the talent search she currently judges alongside Howie Mandel and first-year judge Howard Stern.

"They can't make me do something I don't want to do," she said, before hinting that NBC's potential retribution is limited only by an insinuated no-compete clause. "All they can do is stop me from being a judge on another network for five years."

NBC fired back in kind. Reality Chief Paul Telegdy told The Hollywood Reporter of Sharon's departure, "You can never really coerce a performer into performing if they don't want to; we don't want to force anyone to do one of the best jobs in TV. ... Literally not one word has passed between myself and Sharon since she started the process of telling us she wanted to leave the show by means other than a phone call."

Regarding Jack, NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said, "Although we did not ask Jack to participate in the competition, we were able to offer him two substantial alternative roles on the show, both of which he declined. This network does not discriminate on any basis."

For what it's worth, Letterman abandoned ship for CBS in 1992 when Jay Leno was given the coveted hosting seat of "The Tonight Show" following Johnny Carson's announced retirement. Funny enough, that opened the door for Conan O'Brien to take over Letterman's "Late Night" post until being granted the honor of hosting "The Tonight Show" following Leno's desire to depart...

...Which was then reserved, granting Leno his old seat when his replacement talk show tanked, unseating O'Brien and sending him packing to TBS.

Hm. Clearly, there's a trend to be observed here with NBC's handling of talent.

Also, there has to be an easy way to work Kevin Bacon into those degrees of separation.