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Giuliana Rancic is opening up about death threats she received after her infamous post-Oscars “patchouli oil” comments on Fashion Police, which ignited a firestorm of racism allegations.
In a new interview with People, Rancic said, “I started very quickly getting death threats. People were sending me pictures of the barrel of a gun saying, ‘I’m going to kill your family.’ It was awful.”
Rancic made the comment in a post-Oscars recap for E!’s Fashion Police, saying Disney star Zendaya Coleman‘s dreadlocks probably smelled of “patchouli oil and weed.”
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Rancic told People, “I made [the joke] as a reference to the hippie culture. It was a bohemian-chic reference, not about race, nor would it ever be. It was horrifying to have my name in a headline with words I have never been associated with in my life.”
Rancic issued a public apology after the controversy. Fellow Fashion Police host Kelly Osbourne ended up leaving the show in the wake of the scandal.
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