"These people didn't know how involved Dom was in Ozzy's life. They don't know the story of it”: Jack Osbourne backs Yungblud over Darkness criticism of VMAs performance
“All I was trying to do was my best for your old man” says Yungblud

Yungblud has responded to criticism of his performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
You may recall that the 28-year-old singer – known to his mum as Dominic Harrison - teamed up with Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, Nuno Bettencourt and Black Sabbath’s keyboard player Adam Wakeman for a three-song medley tribute to Ozzy.
This irked Darkness guitarist Dan Hawkins no end – he described it on social media as: “Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll. Cynical, nauseating and more importantly, shit.”
Then his brother, Justin, backed him up. Posting on his YouTube channel, the singer said: “Yungblud seems to have positioned himself as a natural heir to the Ozzy legacy. Then you kind of think, ‘What the fuck does all those decades of having this incredible legacy have to do with Yungblud?’”
Now Harrison has responded. The singer was appearing as a guest on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast. Conversation got on to the Darkness criticism, to which Yungblud said: “Sometimes people don’t believe me, and I welcome that challenge.
"It was so interesting when I spoke to Ozzy about this. He said that you cannot take that on. It's hard to understand someone who is trying to do rock music in a new way because, of course, I'm referencing the past; we all were.”
“Yungblud as a name, it almost has a negative connotation around it like, ‘Oh, I can't like that, it's for the kids,’” he says. “It was segregating the demographic. But what was beautiful about Back to the Beginning was that it was the first time an older generation of rock fans and I shared something in common, and that was our mutual adoration for our genre.”
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He went further in an appearance on Jack Osbourne’s own podcast Trying Not To Die. Declaring his intentions to be honest, he said: "I think the strangest thing about that was all I was trying to do was my best for your old man, because he gave me such a gift."
Jack then stepped in, saying: "These people didn't f***ing know how involved Dom was in Ozzy's life.
"They don't know the f***ing story of it, the things we know, and I was kind of like, 'F*** you, dude'.
"Dom meant something to my dad, my dad meant something to Dom. I texted you the night of the gig and I said, 'F***ing crush it.'"
Yungblud then addressed the criticism from the Darkness, saying: "Anyone bigger than you or more emotionally evolved will never talk down on you.
"Your dad (Ozzy) would never do that, James Hetfield would never do that, Kerry King would never do that. (They) don't need to. They're just like, 'You know what? That's sick.'”

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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