Ozzy Osbourne has said the troubling amount of mass shootings in the US are why he will be moving back to England, saying he is “fed up with people getting killed every day”.
The legendary Black Sabbath frontman and his wife, Sharon, have “fallen out of love with America”, according to a new interview the pair gave with The Observer.
In the August 28 feature, Osbourne had been discussing his family with reporter Craig McLean, who asked why the rock star and his wife – who along with their extended family, have resided in Los Angeles for a little more than two decades – will be moving back to Osbourne’s native England in early 2023. Sharon insisted the decision had nothing to do with her husband’s ill health of recent years. “I knew people would think that,” she said, “It’s not.
“America has changed so drastically. It isn’t the United States of America at all. Nothing’s united about it. It’s a very weird place to live right now.”
Osbourne shared a similar sentiment: “Everything’s fucking ridiculous here. I’m fed up with people getting killed every day. God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings. And there was that mass shooting in Vegas at that concert… It’s fucking crazy.
“I don’t want to die in America. I don’t want to be buried in fucking Forest Lawn,” Osbourne continued, his comment making reference to a famous celebrity cemetery in LA. “I’m English. I want to be back… It’s time for me to come home.”
Osbourne has suffered a plethora of medical ailments in recent years. In 2020, he revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease following a fall the year prior. Back in May, he announced he was waiting to undergo another surgery on his neck (the first coming in 2019) to address lasting damage he sustained in a quad bike accident in 2003; a post-surgery update saw Osbourne share that he was “definitely feeling the love”.
In May, Sharon shared she had returned to the US from the UK after her husband had tested positive for COVID-19.
On August 8, Osbourne appeared at the closing ceremony for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. In his interview with The Observer, he addressed the issue of his ill health that almost prevented him from performing alongside former Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi: “Since I had my [first neck] surgery and everything got fucked up, it’s been three or four years since I’ve performed. And I was thinking it’ll never happen again. But that show’s given me a bit of hope.
“Sharon had them put in a bracket at the back, to hold me up… I was kind of wedged in. Every time I see my Parkinson’s doctor, the first thing he says to me is: ‘Have you had any falls?’ Not only that, I’m on blood thinners. I’m pretty fucked up, actually.”
Osbourne is set to release his ninth studio album, ‘Patient Number 9’, on September 9 via Epic Records. The solo effort will mark a follow-up to 2020’s ‘No Ordinary Man’, which was awarded a five-star review by NME‘s Jordan Bassett.
“For someone who helped to invent modern metal,” he wrote, “[Osbourne’s] held a stunning number of surprises up his cloak sleeve… This rollicking album is yet another.”