The Peacock is fighting back!
NBC denies claims made by Sharon Osbourne that it discriminated against her son, Jack — who suffers from MS — by refusing to let him compete on a military-style reality show.
“This network does not discriminate on any basis,” NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt said in a prepared statement.
“We hold medical information in strict confidence and therefore cannot comment specifically about Jack,” he said.
“But as a company that cares deeply about the health and safety of everyone on our shows — especially one like STARS EARN STRIPES that requires dangerous water stunts, strenuous physical activity, and uses live ammunition — we required all potential participants to undergo medical vetting to ensure that they could safely participate.”
Sharon fired the first shot Monday when she quit NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” to protest the way she says Jack was fired from the show, which pits celebrities against each other in military style exercises.
“I just can’t be fake,” she told The Post in an exclusive interview. “It’s discrimination and it was badly handled.”
Osbourne insists she isn’t angry that Jack, 26, didn’t get the job. But she wanted to call attention to the way the network and producers handled the situation.
“All they had to do was say ‘Jack is not doing the show because he has MS and that’s it,” she insists.
Instead, Osbourne claims the network fired Jack from the show by email and producers denied that he was hired in the first place.
An NBC insider tells The Post that phone messages were left for Jack and his mother, but in the interest of time, it was necessary to follow up with an email.
“Although we did not ask Jack to participate in the competition, we were able to offer him two substantial alternative roles on the show,” Greenblatt says. “Both of which he declined.”
Osbourne was unavailable to comment Tuesday.
“We have the deepest affection for Sharon Osbourne and consider her to be part of the NBC family,”Greenblatt said. “Our hearts go out to her, Ozzy, Jack and his family at this time.
It is unclear if NBC intends to coax the longtime judge into returning next season, as ratings for “America’s Got Talent” continue to fall.
But Osbourne says she hasn’t closed the door on a reconciliation.
“You can never say never,” she says. “Who knows what will happen next. There could be a whole new crew of people at NBC tomorrow.”