Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler Appear in Funny Video for Birmingham Football Club Aston Villa
If you needed additional proof of the reconciliation between Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler, the Black Sabbath bandmates appeared in a video for Aston Villa, the Premier League football club based in their native Birmingham, England.
Embedded below is the video, which shows off Aston Villa’s new home jersey (or kit) for the 2024 season. Even if you know nothing about Aston Villa or the Premier League, you’d find it difficult not to get pumped, especially when you hear Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” playing in the background of the video. Next thing you know, you’ll find yourself screaming “Up the Villa!” with everyone else.
A Brief History of Ozzy and Geezer’s Weird Feud
Things between Osbourne and Butler seemed awfully strange for a while.
Back in June 2023, Butler released his memoir Into the Void. In the book’s epilogue, the bassist shared he and Osbourne don’t speak due to a falling out between their wives. He wrote, “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 in times of trouble.” Apparently, a falling out between Sharon Osbourne and Butler’s wife, Gloria, has led to some tension between the Black Sabbath bandmates.
Despite Butler saying he and The Prince of Darkness were “fine,” Osbourne clearly wasn’t “fine” at all about their situation.
In a November 2023 interview with Rolling Stone UK, Ozzy shared Geezer hadn’t called him at all during his many health struggles of the past five years. He added that Tony Iommi has been very supportive during his health issues. Ozzy also said that Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has been in contact, despite ongoing tension with him.
“We all grew up together, and he can’t pick up the f—ing phone like a man and see how I’m doing,” said Osbourne. He added that the falling out between their wives was between the wives, not them.
“Are you really going to hide behind your wife’s skirt because of that?” noted Ozzy.
After Osbourne’s comments to Rolling Stone UK received a lot of attention, Butler took to Instagram to respond.
He wrote, “Rumour has it Ozzy is upset, saying he never received my get well messages. I made two 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 responded, but I didn’t hear back from Ozzy.”
Butler added, “Eleven months later (21 Jan, 2020), I emailed Sharon to check on Oz. That email went unanswered.”
He concluded, “I don’t want to engage in a tit for tat. Having made two attempts to wish Ozzy well, without a reply, I figured it best to privately keep him in my thoughts.”
The comment section of the post was filled with supportive messages. Glenn Hughes wrote, “Class, lad.” Meanwhile, Alex Skolnick wrote, “My (very) brief time in their camp was mid-90s, with you on bass, an experience I’ll always cherish. Sorry to hear the dysfunction (which you understandably stepped away from a few months later) hasn’t gone away. Well expressed, Geez.”
The Black Sabbath bassist said in an interview in May that there’s been a lot of “miscommunication” and, perhaps, some misunderstandings, too. Butler said he heard about how Osbourne told Rolling Stone that he didn’t reach out while he was dealing was his various health issues. It turns out Butler was, in fact, sending messages to Osbourne, but those messages weren’t making their way to the Prince of Darkness.
Butler explains, “So I went through the accountant, and he got in touch with Ozzy and said, ‘He’s just been sending you stuff. He wants to talk to you.’ And we’ve been fine since that.”
