Ozzy Osbourne has called out his longtime Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler for not checking in on him while he was dealing with a series of health issues in recent years. However, the bassist has responded by saying he made multiple attempts to send Osbourne “get well” messages.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone UK, Osbourne expressed frustration at Butler for the apparent radio silence. Ozzy also stated that their friendship has deteriorated in part because of a feud between his wife/manager Sharon Osbourne and Geezer’s wife/manager Gloria Butler.
“[Black Sabbath guitarist] Tony Iommi has been so supportive of me since my illness,” said Osbourne, adding: “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 [following Ozzy’s exit in 1979]. I thought, ‘Fuck it, he’s my mate. I’m gonna call him.’ But from him, not one fucking call.”
Continued Ozzy, “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.”
When asked why he had a falling out with Geezer in the first place, Ozzy brought up the tension between his wife Sharon and Butler’s spouse Gloria.
“His wife and my wife had a falling out,” said Ozzy. “But that’s got fucking nothing to do with me. Are you really going to hide behind your wife’s skirt because of that?”
Now Butler has responded via social media, claiming that he didn’t know Ozzy’s new phone number, but made multiple attempts to contact him via email — with one such message being intercepted by Sharon — but said he never received a reply from Ozzy himself.
Posted Butler on Instagram:
“Rumour has it; Ozzy is upset, saying he never received my get well messages. I made 2 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 [Osbourne, Ozzy’s wife and manager] responded but I didn’t hear back from Ozzy. 11 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 2 attempts to wish Ozzy well , without a reply, I figured it best to privately keep him in my thoughts.”
Back in June, we reported on Butler’s autobiography Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath―And Beyond, in which he wrote that he is no longer in communication with Ozzy (and therefore ruled out the possibility at a Black Sabbath reunion).
“Me and Ozzy are fine,” wrote Butler, “it’s just that we’re both ruled by our wives.”
You can view Butler’s social media post below.
