Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK, Ozzy Osbourne blasted his Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler for not checking in on him amid his recent health struggles. The frontman, who suffers from PRKN 2, has undergone a number of operations in recent years due to a 2019 fall in which he dislodged some metal rods that were implanted in him following a 2003 ATV accident.

Osborne said the following:

“You do find out who’s a genuine friend when you’ve been through what I’ve had. Tony Iommi has been so supportive of me since my illness. Geezer Butler hasn’t given me one fucking phone call. Not one fucking call. When his son was fucking born, I phoned him every fucking night even though we were at war with each other, Black Sabbath and me [Ozzy was fired from the band]. I thought, ‘Fuck it, he’s my mate, I’m gonna call him.’ But from him, not one fucking call.

It’s sad, man. We all grew up together, and he can’t pick up the fucking phone like a man and see how I’m doing. Even Bill Ward has been in touch with me. I said some things about Bill, and I don’t know why I said it, but when I came through my illness, he contacted me.

I’m not in shock, I’m just very fucking sad that he can’t just call me after all this time and say, ‘How you doing?’ Fucking arsehole.”

He continued when asked why their relationship has soured:

“His wife and my wife had a falling-out! But that’s got fucking nothing to do with me. Are you really going to hide behind your wife’s skirt because of that?”

For his part, Butler denied these claims:

“Rumour has it; Ozzy is upset, saying he never received my get well messages. I made 2 different attempts at getting in touch during his illnesses. My first email (8 Feb, 2019) went through his office because I didn’t have Ozzy’s new number to text him. Sharon responded but I didn’t hear back from Ozzy.

11 months later (21 Jan, 2020), I emailed Sharon to check on Oz. That email went unanswered.

I don’t want to engage in a tit for tat. Having made 2 attempts to wish Ozzy well , without a reply, I figured it best to privately keep him in my thoughts.”