Former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne called out Kanye West on social media on Friday (February 9), saying West had asked to sample a song but was “denied permission because he's anti-Semitic” and used the sample anyway otherwise in a hearing. event for his new album at the United Center in Chicago on Thursday. “I want nothing to do with this man!” Osbourne wrote.
Although Osbourne said online that West asked to sample “War Pigs,” the song he appears to have used is “Iron Man” — specifically a version performed by Ozzy Osbourne's solo band at the Us Festival in 1983.
“We get so many requests for these songs,” his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne says Advertising sign, “and when we saw this request, we said there is no way.” Without permission, West would not be able to release a new song that would use the sample. “We are in contact with his team” about the legal matter, says Sharon Osbourne. “And it's also about respect for another artist.”
Beginning in 2022, West, now known simply as Ye, made a series of anti-Semitic comments, for which he was widely condemned and lost several endorsement and fashion deals. Although he issued an online apology for his remarks in December, the first song from his upcoming album, Vultures, includes the line “How am I anti-Semitic? / I just fucked a Jewish bitch.” While West doesn't appear to have finalized release details for the album – and Ozzy Osbourne's comments suggest he may run into problems with clearing samples – he has held a series of listening events to promote it.
Ozzy Osbourne often allows other artists to sample his work. “But the simple thing is, we don't want to be associated with a hater,” says Sharon Osbourne, who grew up Jewish. (Her father, the UK music director Don Arden, was Jewish.) “Spreading hate the way she does should not be allowed. All the excuses – he's bipolar or whatever – don't change that. It's like fucking you, basically.”
Like many early Black Sabbath songs, “Iron Man” was written by the band – Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Who has the rights to license jams of a composition by more than one songwriter may depend on the agreement between them. In that case, Sharon Osbourne tells Billboard that the deal says all four songwriters have to agree. There could also be licensing issues with the recording of the 1983 performance, to which Ozzy Ozbourne apparently owns the rights.
Coincidentally, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne dressed up as Kanye West and Bianca Censori for Halloween, but that was “a joke,” Sharon Osbourne said.
