Ozzy Osbourne (L) has slammed controversial rapper Kanye West (R) for allegedly sampling his music without permission (Getty)
Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, who famously doesn’t tend to hold back, has unleashed a scathing attack on rapper Kanye West for allegedly sampling his music without permission.
In a furious social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Black Sabbath icon revealed that he had staunchly refused West’s request to use a segment of their iconic track “War Pigs” on West’s new album. However, despite Osbourne’s clear denial, he heard it was used anyway during a listening party this week.
The tweet has since gone viral, with over 16,000 retweets and over eight million views at the time of writing.
Some people speculated that Osbourne’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, actually wrote the tweet – due to the fact she recently told the Jewish Chronicle: “Judaism is the only religion I have, and the only one with which I feel comfortable.”
In October 2022 Kanye West joined Fox News’ Tucker Carlson after his decision to wear a “White Lives Matter” shirt at Paris Fashion Week led to a media firestorm. During the interview, West made a series of offensive, conspiratorial claims about Jewish people. He claimed that Jews are actually Black people, and also said that it is impossible for him to be fairly described as antisemitic, because as a Black person he is actually a Jew.
He went on to double down on his statements. US-based Anti-Defamation League have a whole section of their website dedicated to highlighting Kanye West’s many antisemitic remarks.
“I STILL think Sharon wrote this,” said one user in response to the viral tweet, “but I stand with the artist. Ozzy’s ‘No’ should have been respected. Artistic works are an extension of the person who created them. Repurposing them is just like repurposing someone else’s identity. Shouldn’t happen without permission.
The one-hour listening party in Chicago saw West, also known as Ye, and Ty Dolla $ign premiere their joint project Vultures. The album was originally set to drop in December but it’s believed it was delayed due to fellow artist Nicki Minaj refusing to let West feature an old collaboration between the two.
“Regarding Kanye: that train has left the station, OK?” she explained. “No disrespect in any way. I just put out a brand new album. Why would I put out a song that has been out for three years? Come on, guys.”
Ozzy Osbourne Kanye West costume
Other Twitter/X users also called both Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne out for complaining about Kanye West ‘stealing’ the sampled track, pointing out that the pair chose to dress as Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori at Halloween, with the couple mimicking Censori’s now-infamous topless cushion look.
However, many people didn’t understand why that would preclude the rock star from criticising the rapper, with one saying “How exactly does mocking Ye thru a Halloween costume disqualify him from criticising his antisemitism? Help me out here. Explain it to me like I’m five.”
On Friday (9 February), Kanye West, 46, shared a series of messages to his Instagram Story in response to the ongoing row.
Replying to a screenshot of Ozzy’s most recent Instagram post, Kanye re-shared the old photo of the Osbournes dressed up as West and Censori for Halloween, and suggested they were his fans.
West also wrote: ‘He obviously has a celebrity handler who’s on his account,’ suggesting that Ozzy did not write the original message himself.