When former Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward took to his social media to ask Ozzy Osbourne for a public apology, we mentioned that he was essentially declaring war on Ozzy and his manager, who happens to be his wife Sharon. Well, it certainly didn’t take long. Yesterday, Ozzy struck back at Ward via his Facebook page. In short, Ozzy is certainly not apologizing, and more or less goes on the attack. Here’s his statement:
I never wanted to discuss this in a public forum but Bill’s statements left me no option to but to respond honestly.
Wow Bill,
What the fuck are you on about? I cannot apologize for comments or opinions I may have made about you in the press during Sabbath’s “13” album and tour– physically, you knew you were fucked. Tony, Geezer and myself didn’t think you could have done a two hour set with a drum solo every night, so we made the decision to move on. With Tony’s condition we felt that time was not on our side.
Bill, stop this smokescreen about an “unsignable contract” and let’s be honest. Deep down inside you knew you weren’t capable of doing the album and a 16 month tour. Unfortunately for you, our instincts were correct as you were in hospital several times during 2013. Your last hospitalization was for a shoulder surgery that you now say you’ve only just recovered from. This would have meant that our world tour would have been canceled. So how is all of this my fault? Stop playing the victim and be honest with yourself and our fans.
Bill, we go back a long way, let’s stop this now before it gets out of hand.
God bless you.
Love.
Ozzy
Yeah, that doesn’t sound like something Ozzy would say, and now Ozzy and Ward’s public attacks have certainly gotten out of hand. While it’s on Ozzy’s Facebook page, and signed by him, it definitely sounds more like something Sharon wrote instead. It’s unfortunate that Ward might not have been able to play, but it’s hard to say, seeing that the public never got given the chance to see him play. There still hasn’t been anything said about what Black Sabbath’s farewell plans are, but it’s safe to say that Bill Ward won’t be part of them right now.
