Rod Stewart Under Fire For Strange ‘Forever Young’ Ozzy Osbourne AI Tribute: ‘Craziest Most Disrespectful S–t I Ever Saw’
What was clearly intended as a loving tribute to a beloved fellow English music legend turned sour last week when Rod Stewart’s homage to late heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne drew rebuke from some commenters. As seen in fan video of the moment, during Stewart’s show in Charlotte, N.C. on July 29, the 80-year-old singer posted a bizarre AI-generated video of Osbourne — who died on July 22 at age 76 of undisclosed causes — mugging for selfies in heaven with a variety of fellow deceased pop, rock and hip-hop stars including: Prince, Tina Turner, Bob Marley, Kurt Cobain, Tupac Shakur, Aaliyah, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, George Michael and XXXTentacion, among others.
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The comments on one woman’s video said it all: “This… looks like one of the drug induced psychosis that led Ozzy to rehab. Outstanding, 7/10. Could have been a 10 if they randomly added Princess Diana and someone who hasn’t died yet,” as well as, “Weekend at Bernie’s vibes. Prince didn’t even want his music on Spotify and changed his name to a Symbol to protect his intellectual property I’m 100% sure he wouldn’t have signed off on Rod Stuart Puppeteering his face for this tacky.”
On X, comments ranged from “We are truly in the end times,” to “I’ve seen some s–tty AI visuals in concerts but this is a new low” and “This is bizarre for many reasons, not the least of which being the fact that Rod Stewart has performed with Ozzy Osbourne. Instead of blasting AI images of Ozzy in heaven, they could show this real & quite lovely picture of Rod Stewart with his arm around the actual Ozzy Osbourne.”
According to the Charlotte Observer, Stewart ended last week’s Ozzy AI tribute by saying, “Very sad. A lot of those people died ’cause of drugs… I’m still here, though!”
Since Osbourne’s death last month tributes have been pouring in from all over, including more traditional ones from Stewart, who has been dedicating his performances of “Forever Young” to Ozzy at his concerts in the weeks since; on July 22, on Instagram Stewart wrote, “Bey, bye Ozzy. Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there — later rather than sooner.”
Just a few days earlier than the Charlotte stop, during a July 26 show at the XFinity Center in Mansfield, Mass., Stewart dedicated “Forever Young” to Ozzy, saying that “we lost a really, true legend this week in Ozzy… I knew his family very well,” as a photo of Osbourne filled the screen. “I”ll be with you soon… but not too soon,” Stewart quipped before launching into the song as the stage screens filled with colorful, postcard-style images of his band members.
At press time, spokespeople for Osbourne and Stewart had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
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