Co-host Giuliana Rancic of E!’s “Fashion Police” says her comments about Zendaya that stirred up accusations of racism were mishandled in the editing room.

The comments led to a shakeup on the show, with both Kelly Osbourne and Kathy Griffin stepping down from “Fashion Police” as the racism controversy raged. Rancic’s comments in February focused on Zendaya’s hair, including a comment about the singer smelling like weed or patchouli oil. Rancic later apologized for the comments.

Today.com reports that Rancic talked about the incident this morning during an interview with Savannah Guthrie on “Today.”

Said Rancic: “You know, I made a reference to the hippie culture. I talked about patchouli oil, which is a hippie perfume. And in the editing process, some of the gestures I made, some of the things I said were taken out for time. I made peace signs, I said ‘bohemian’ twice — those were taken out for time. So when the joke aired, some people were offended by it.”

While denying any racist overtones to her comments, Rancic said she understands the negative reaction.

She is quoted on “Today” saying: “I see why people took offense. I thought that the joke was not edited in the proper way, and that’s just something I have to live with. It’s very important for me to just get out there and tell the real story, and I knew I would have my moment. But those darn headlines were so crazy for so long that I thought, ‘Let everything calm down, and then I can come out and tell the real story.'”