“My father always thought you were a ... Thanks for proving him right": Which rock legend has been on the other end of a tongue-lashing from Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack?

Roger Waters performs on stage at The O2 Arena during the 'This is Not A Drill' tour, on June 06, 2023 in London, England
(Image credit: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

You have to hand it to Roger Waters – he consistently finds new ways to annoy people.

Usually, those people are his ex-bandmates in Pink Floyd. Now it’s Jack Osbourne, who has – quite understandably – taken umbrage at some rather insensitive comments about his late father.

Waters was being interviewed on the Independent Ink podcast, when, in the midst of talking about capitalism, global politics and his usual bugbears, he suddenly veered onto the subject of the recently departed Black Sabbath frontman.

"Ozzy Osbourne, who just died, bless him in his whatever state that he was in his whole life. We'll never know. Although he was all over the TV for hundreds of years with his idiocy and nonsense. The music, I have no idea. I couldn't give a fuck."

Waters continued: "I don't care about Black Sabbath, I never did. Have no interest in biting the heads of chickens or whatever they do. I couldn't care less, you know."

The Independent Ink in Conversation with Roger Waters - YouTube The Independent Ink in Conversation with Roger Waters - YouTube
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Jack Osbourne has since responded on Twitter/X and, well... he doesn’t exactly mince his words.

"Hey Roger Waters, f*** you,” he began. “How pathetic and out of touch you've become. The only way you seem to get attention these days is by vomiting out bullshit in the press. My father always thought you were a c**t. Thanks for proving him right."

Oh dear.

For his part, Ozzy was always quite complimentary about Floyd. Speaking to Classic Rock about his favourite bands in 2022, Osbourne said: “The Floyd made good albums; I don’t think they ever made a bad one”.

As we know, Waters rarely has a good word to say about anyone or anything and his aversion to Black Sabbath and their music goes way back.

Reviewing their single Evil Woman for Melody Maker in 1970, he said: “Well, well, well… I’m speechless – well, almost. You keep thinking it’s going to start. You think that for the first minute, but then, if you are really perceptive, you realise it isn’t going to start, and that’s all there is.”

Bear in mind that in 1970 Waters and Floyd were established names in UK counter-culture and Sabbath merely an up-and-coming band. The review clearly stung. Indeed Tony Iommi remembered it when interviewed in 2017: “I used to read the slaggings we’d get and I’d just think ‘Why?’. There was one moment that really hurt, and that didn’t actually come from the press.

"It came from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. He gave it (Evil Woman) such a terrible review. I thought, ‘Blimey!’ Hearing that from a fellow musician seemed really harsh.”

Will Simpson
News and features writer

Will Simpson is a freelance music expert whose work has appeared in Classic Rock, Classic Pop, Guitarist and Total Guitar magazine. He is the author of 'Freedom Through Football: Inside Britain's Most Intrepid Sports Club' and his second book 'An American Cricket Odyssey' is due out in 2025

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