Ozzy Says Geezer Butler Never Reached Out During Health Scare, Butler Says That’s B.S.
It should come as a shock to no one that 74-year-old Ozzy Osbourne has been dealing with some health issues in his old age. With a messed up back following a ATV accident from the early 2000s, his future as a touring musician is constantly under question. And while the metal community showed an outpouring of support when it was believed that he was calling it quits, the “Prince of Darkness” suggested during a recent Rolling Stone UK interview that a former bandmate from his Black Sabbath days gave him the cold shoulder.
According to Ozzy, bassist Geezer Butler failed to reach out when things got rough for the iconic metal singer. He went so far as to call the man a “fucking arsehole” for his silence.
“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 [after his sacking]. 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.”
That’s really sad and all, witnessing a falling out between two long-term friends. It’s such a sad situation, really. …Except Butler said that shit isn’t even remotely true…
In response to Ozzy’s comments, Butler took to Instagram to try to set the record straight according to how he remembers things panning out.
“Rumour has it Ozzy is upset, saying he never received my get well messages.
“I made two 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.
“Eleven 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 two attempts to wish Ozzy well without a reply, I figured it best to privately keep him in my thoughts.”
Ostensibly, Butler’s got receipts for all these things, so if the boys want to mend that rickety bridge between them, it should be pretty easy. If this whole thing turns out to be a failure of communication that really falls at Sharon’s feet, that’s just a huge bummer.
