Just weeks after Black Sabbath lead singer and cultural icon Ozzy Osbourne's death, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters said Osbourne brought "hundreds of years" of "idiocy and nonsense" into the world via his family’s reality show.
Waters was appearing on The Independent Ink podcast when he made his remarks.
Claiming powerful figures use pop culture to manipulate the masses, Waters referenced Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian before saying:
"Or Ozzy Osbourne, who just died, bless him, in his, whatever that state that he was in his whole life, we'll never know. Although, he was all over the TV for hundreds of years with his idiocy and nonsense."
You can see an excerpt here:
Not content to conflate a reality show that ran for four seasons with "hundreds of years" of influence, Waters moved on to Osbourne's music:
"The music, I have no idea, I couldn't give a f*ck. I don't care about Black Sabbath, I never did, I have no interest in...."
Waters stuck out his tongue and—in an apparent parody of Osbourne—yelled:
"Wahhhh!!!"
He then continued:
"...and biting the heads off chickens or whatever they do. I couldn't care less."
Waters was told it was a bat, not a chicken, but not that the act had been done accidentally.
Acting scandalized, he replied:
"Oh my God, that's even worse, isn't it? I don't know, is it worse to bite the head off a bat or a chicken? They’re both pretty tricky, aren’t they?"
In response, Osbourne's son Jack took to Instagram and X with a message for Waters:
"Hey Roger Waters. F*ck you. How pathetic and out of touch you’ve become. The only way you seem to get attention these days is by vomiting out bullsh*t in the press. My father always thought you were a c*nt — thanks for proving him right."
The posts included a clown emoji and a hashtag.
@JackOsbourne/X
On Instagram, Jack Osbourne's original post—that had been liked by his mother Sharon and sister Kelly—was removed by the platform as hate speech.
So he reposted a self-censored version.
People were firmly Team Osbourne on social media.
@JackOsbourne/Instagram
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@JackOsbourne/Instagram
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@JackOsbourne/Instagram
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@JackOsbourne/Instagram
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@JackOsbourne/Instagram
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@JackOsbourne/Instagram
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@JackOsbourne/Instagram
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Waters—who split from Pink Floyd in 1985—has made news before for his controversial comments.
Repeatedly called out as antisemitic, Waters also drew criticism for saying the Russian invasion of Ukraine was provoked, for defending China's human rights record, and publicly supporting dictators like Vladimir Putin.
