DRAMA! SHARON OSBOURNE FIRES BACK AT BILL WARD “FIRING” RUMORS
I could not care less whether Bill Ward is in this year’s Black Sabbath reunion. On a personal level I hope things work out for Bill — it definitely seems like he’s the party being “wronged” here — but the truth is that I give absolutely no fucks about this Black Sabbath reunion to begin with. None. I said as much back in October when rumors first started heating up, but I’ll say it again:
- Ozzy’s body is so torn up from years of drug and alcohol abuse that he can barely move, and his voice is in the shitter. The rest of the guys ain’t exactly spring chickens either. Even back in 2005, Black Sabbath were boring as all fuck to watch live. Not worth the $100+ it’ll cost to see them play.
- Any new Black Sabbath album will not be that good. I’m sorry, it just won’t. Adequate/stock Black Sabbath at best, completely irrelevant at worst. Absolutely not better than the Heaven and Hell album they released with Dio in ’08, which was decent.
Nevertheless, you people all seem to be whipped into a tizzy by this whole Bill Ward drama, so we’re going to keep reporting on it ’cause all we care about is getting LOTS OF HITS and generating mad cash to buy the finest bananas we can possibly find for the MetalSucks Mansion Monkeys. And so:
After yesterday’s ridiculous rumor that Sharon Osbourne “fired” Bill Ward, Sharon Osbourne responded last night via Twitter:
I am not in any position to hire or fire anyone in Black Sabbath. I don’t manage the band, I manage my husband.
Which makes perfect sense — Ozzy’s business and Sabbath’s business are two separate entities. However, this response does not address Bill Ward’s claim that he wasn’t offered a fair contract. My take on the whole thing is that his contract offer was so shitty it basically amounted to forcing him out the door, so while Sharon can accurately claim that she didn’t “fire” Ward, I’m highly, highly, highly, HIGHLY doubtful that Sharon had nothing to do with said shitty contract offer. I’m positive she’s intimately involved in these dealings; she manages Ozzy, and Ozzy is a member of Black Sabbath.
It’s worth noting that Sharon didn’t comment on the rumor that Ozzy’s solo band drummer Tommy Clufetos has been tapped to play drums for Black Sabbath.
The other bit of drama to develop over the past 24 hours is a lengthy statement from Bill Ward’s son Aron coming out in defense of his dad. It’s tl;dr in my opinion, but you can head over to Metal Insider to check it out in full if you’re so inclined. BEEF!
Meanwhile, Tony Iommi still has fucking lymphoma and we continue to argue incessantly over this trivial nonsense. Congratulations, humanity.
-VN
