Kanye West seems to make enemies as easily as flipping on a light switch these days, and now it appears that we can mark “Crazy Train” singer Ozzy Osbourne as yet another member of the entertainment community who is not happy with the man who wishes to be called “Ye.”
Osbourne, who has had a controversial career of his own over the decades since he and heavy metal band Black Sabbath made it big in the 1970s, took to his X account on Friday to blast West for using a snippet of his song, “Iron Man,” without permission.
“Kanye West asked permission to sample a section of a 1983 performance of ‘Iron Man’ from the US festival without vocals & was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many,” Osbourne wrote.
“He went ahead and used the sample anyway at his album listening party last night,” the rocker added.
Osbourne concluded with an adamant, “I want no association with this man!”
. @KANYEWEST ASKED PERMISSION TO SAMPLE A SECTION OF A 1983 LIVE PERFORMANCE OF “IRON MAN” FROM THE US FESTIVAL WITHOUT VOCALS & WAS REFUSED PERMISSION BECAUSE HE IS AN ANTISEMITE AND HAS CAUSED UNTOLD HEARTACHE TO MANY. HE WENT AHEAD AND USED THE SAMPLE ANYWAY AT HIS ALBUM…
— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) February 9, 2024
Oddly enough, this is the same Ozzy Osbourne who in a 1982 interview actually said in an interview that he “admired” Adolf Hitler because the German madman had a “charisma,” and Hitler was one of the biggest “influences” in how he approached his Black Sabbath stage shows.
Regardless, Ozzy is very unhappy with Kanye’s use of his song.
Is Kanye West mentally stable?
But if you think Ozzy is upset, his wife is even more furious.
Sharon Osbourne, yet another member of the entertainment community who is no stranger to controversy, is madder still at West for using her husband’s song, and one reason is that her own father was Jewish. She she told the U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle in an interview published in January that she was “basically raised in a Jewish household.”
Sharon echoed Ozzy’s fury and told entertainment chatter site TMZ that Kanye “f***ed with the wrong Jew this time.”
Sharon, who was thrown off the daytime talk show “The Talk” for clashing with her co-hosts, told TMZ that her husband’s lawyers were going to send a cease and desist letter to Kanye to warn him never to sample any of Osbourne’s music again.
She added that as far as they are concerned, Kanye “represents hate,” and that he’s a “disrespectful anti-Semite.”
She also insisted that West is “dangerous” and called him a “pig.”
She concluded by saying that it does not matter if West only used a few seconds of Ozzy’s music, the Osbournes don’t want West to use any of Ozzy’s songs at all, period. And if he persists in using anything by Ozzy or Black Sabbath, they will take him to court over it.
West, of course, has a very troubling history of making wild, anti-Semitic comments and has lost numerous sponsors and millions of dollars over his outbursts.
On the other hand, he has also offered several apologies, in the latest of which he insisted that he did not mean to “offend or demean” anyone and that he deeply regrets any pain he has caused.
West has been deeply hurt financially by his outbursts and at this point, whether he is sincere in his apologies or not, it seems unlikely he will ever be able to recapture the goodwill he had with fellow entertainers.
Look for conflicts like this to continue for him, for sure.
