Sharon Osbourne says Kanye West messed with ‘the wrong Jew’ by using Ozzy’s sample
Sharon Osbourne has called out Kanye West for using a sample of a song by her husband Ozzy’s band Black Sabbath without his permission.
In a tweet shared on Friday (9 February) the Black Sabbath frontman, 75, wrote that West, 46, had asked for permission to use a vocal-less clip of the band performing “War Pigs” in 1983.
“He is an antisemite and has caused untold hurt to many,” Ozzy wrote, adding, “I want no association with this man!”
Ozzy declared that West went ahead and used the clip anyway during a listening party in Chicago for his new album, Vultures, on Thursday.
Then Sharon, 71, whose father Don Arden was Jewish, gave an interview to TMZ saying that the couple sent a cease and desist to the singer, who now calls himself Ye.
“Kanye f***ed with the wrong Jew this time,” she added.
She told the outlet that West “represents hate” and that he’s a “disrespectful antisemite”.
On Friday, in retaliation, West posted a picture of the Osbournes on his Instagram, from last year, in which they were dressed up as West and Bianca Censori for Halloween.
Suggesting that Ozzy is actually a fan of his, West wrote: “He obviously has a celebrity handler who’s on his account.”
West has attracted widespread criticism in recent years over his antisemitic comments.
In December 2022, he appeared on right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s show, where he claimed that he “liked Hitler” and said people should “stop dissing the Nazis”.
A year later, West posted an apology to the Jewish community written in Hebrew, but has continued to share offensive views and content.
“It was not my intention to offend or disrespect and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused,“ he said. “Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.”
Barely a month before to this, he had referred to the controversies on “Vultures”, the title track from his album of the same name: “How I’m antisemitic? I just f***ed a Jewish bitch.”
In response to his antisemitic outbursts in 2022, West lost his fashion collaborations with Adidas, Gap and Balenciaga, and was dropped by his agency, CAA.
During an album release party for Vultures in December, West was spotted wearing a KKK-style hood while on stage.
Osbourne, meanwhile, announced his retirement from touring in February last year, when he cancelled his planned UK and European dates due to ill health. He called the decision “one of the hardest things” he’d ever had to share with his fans.
Many of his health problems were linked to an accident he suffered at home in 2019, where he injured his spine. The injury exacerbated a previous one he had sustained in a quad bike accident at his estate in 2003.
In 2020, he also revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.