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Am I the only one who felt that Sheryl Underwood’s big reveal during “Secrets Week” on “The Talk” (apparently a time when you are supposed to let the bones fall out of the closet for ranting…er…cleansing) was anything but inspiring?

In fact, a more appropriate description for the reveal is diabolical. I mean, don’t get it twisted: Coming from a place of constant rejection to a place of achievement is definitely worthy of praise. And I get it. There is no better revenge than being able to rub your success in the faces of those who tried to move you off of your path.

But in spite of being praised for her grace, integrity and rising above the fray of the other comediennes’ alleged hatred, Underwood’s scheme was a page ripped straight out of the burn book of her fellow mean girls.

In particular:

“I stayed on all of the call with my phone on mute, but I thought, ‘take notes’! Listen, because rarely would we hear someone talking about us and truly saying what they truly feel about us. After I listened to all of this – and I want every woman to hear this – I was bruised but I wasn’t broken. I listened to the entire call and I waited for everybody to click off and I called Latham and I said, ‘I don’t think this is going to be a great fit for me. But I hope that these women will go on and do great things.’ To this day they did not know that I was on this call. And it gets better. I have worked with Laura Hayes on Beauty Shop – after this call. I have worked with Adele Givens on “Herlarious” – after this call. I just saw Sommore at the neighborhood awards in Atlanta – after this call. Because I decided instead of being angry and vengeful I decided to take the truth of what they are saying – and they were right to have an opinion – and make myself an even better person. And I know you’re probably thinking, ‘Why are you saying this now?’ Because I’m right where I belong.”

Um, I hope part of “the truth of what they are saying” didn’t involve encouraging her to wear those god-awful wigs she has been rocking. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Why are you talking about that lady’s hair like that? Though I defended her when folks were calling her all sorts of ironic and counterproductive names in their defense of natural hair, I haven’t forgotten about her saying “nappy hair in particular is nasty.” And if something along the lines of, “Y’all know what would look cute on her? One of those same wigs Pam Oliver has” is what she heard on the other end of that conference call, she should have put down the Sharpie, interjected herself in the conversation and got them together rather quickly.

And that leads me to my real point: Why couldn’t Underwood have been bruised and not broken, but also taken that phone off mute and set those women straight right there on the spot? I mean, it would have been more honest and direct than to hold a grudge from well over 13 years ago. And yes, this was a grudge. She didn’t forget about it or let it go. She didn’t let bygones be bygones. She didn’t even take the high road. Taking the high road would have been confronting them and then giving them the opportunity to apologize and make things right. Taking the high road would have meant going on with her life, irrespective of how they felt about her.

Instead, she waited until the perfect moment presented itself to publicly air out a pretty private incident. That’s not inspirational–that’s just petty. It was a bit passive aggressive and a shade of opportunistic too. I mean, there’s no telling what kind of professional repercussions there will be for the three comediennes.

Seriously, not only did Underwood shame the hell out of these women in front of her worldwide viewing audience, but she called them out by name in front of an audience of mostly white women, who likely never heard of these comediennes beforehand. I bet many of them went home in their mom jeans, feeling sorry for the poor black lady in the funny wig and vowed to never support Sommore, Adele Givens and Laura Hayes ever, even though they were only privy to one side of the story. It’s actually a pretty ice cold thing to do to someone, even if it’s an enemy. In fact, I haven’t seen anything this cold since Daniel Plainview’s character in There Will Be Blood. Underwood literally sat on that stage, reached her straw all the way across the room and drank Sommore and ’em’s milkshakes. And in many respects, Underwood is no better than the people who supposedly wronged her. Hell, she might be even worse when you stop to really think about it.

Interestingly enough, radio talk show host and fellow comedian Rickey Smiley shared his own secrets about how Underwood was allegedly pretty underhanded at one point in her career as well. More specifically, the website Funky Dineva reports Smiley sharing on his radio show that “Sheryl would show up at shows and try to rearrange the show order, play promoters and other comics against one another and undercut other comedians.” It’s pretty insightful stuff, which you can listen to here. At the very least, Underwood’s “secret” sounds like it’s going to ruffle some feathers in the black comic world, outside of the main participants.

But I don’t want to minimize Underwood’s hurt here. And truthfully, if those women were as nasty as she alleges, I’m not mad at her at all. But I highly doubt Underwood will be getting an invite to substitute for Oprah Winfrey’s “Lifeclass,” particularly around the shows on forgiveness. But then again, Oprah seems a little shady sometimes too, so who knows?

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