In response to Ozzy Osbourne‘s statement, Geezer Butler has refuted the claim that he never reached out to check on him during his struggle with various health problems in recent times.
In a recent interview with The Sun, Osbourne expressed his disappointment in his former BLACK SABBATH bandmate for not reaching out to him during his health struggles.
Ozzy, who was unable to attend the Rolling Stone UK Awards due to his health, discussed his views on dying and his desire for a quick and painless death if he were to have a terminal illness.
“I don’t fear dying, but I don’t want to have a long, painful and miserable existence,” Ozzy said. “I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to Switzerland and get it done quickly. I saw my father die of cancer. I said to Sharon that I’d smoked a joint recently and she said, ‘What are you doing that for? It’ll f**king kill you!’. I said, ‘How long do you want me to f**king live for?’. At best, I’ve got ten years left and, when you’re older, time picks up speed. Me and Sharon had our 41st wedding anniversary recently and that’s just unbelievable to me.”
While other band members like Tony Iommi and Bill Ward have been supportive, Ozzy feels let down by Geezer‘s lack of communication. On the other hand, Geezer Butler clarified that he no longer speaks to Ozzy and mentioned that their falling out was due to their wives.
Ozzy said: “You do find out who’s a genuine friend when you’ve been through what I’ve had. Tony Iommi has been so supportive of me since my illness. Geezer Butler hasn’t given me one f**king phone call. Not one f**king call. When his son was f**king born, I phoned him every f**king night even though we were at war with each other. I thought, ‘F**k it, he’s my mate, I’m gonna call him’. But from him, not one f**king call.
“It’s sad, man. We all grew up together, and he can’t pick up the f**king phone like a man and see how I’m doing,” Osbourne continued. “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 f**king sad that he can’t just call me after all this time and say, ‘How you doing?’. F**king a*hole.”
Now, Butler took to social media to share his side of story, writing: “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,” Geezer added. “Having made 2 attempts to wish Ozzy well , without a reply, I figured it best to privately keep him in my thoughts.”
According to Butler‘s new memoir, Into the Void, he and Osbourne no longer communicate, despite BLACK SABBATH‘s amicable split after their final concert in 2017.
The root of the issue lies in a disagreement between their wives, Gloria Butler and Sharon Osbourne. However, Geezer emphasizes that there is no animosity between him and Ozzy and that they still feel like brothers, even if they are not as close as they once were.
In an interview from earlier this year with Ultimate Classic Rock, Butler was asked if he believes that there is a possibility for the communication lines to reopen at some point, to which he responded: “I very much doubt it. We didn’t fall out; it was the wives.”
In the book, Geezer wrote about Ozzy: “Me and Ozzy are fine, it’s just that we’re both ruled by our wives. He’s got a big heart and was always there for me.”
