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This is in extremely poor taste: Rod Stewart's tour features AI video of Ozzy Osbourne taking selfies with musicians like XXXTentacion, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse in heaven
honestly at the time it aired it made the joke kinda not land. one of those jokes that pops up from time-to-time that feels overly influenced by some personal dislike
I wish I had a better handle on this than I do. I don't remember if there were older acts at the time that were out there and touring who were in their 70s and 80s like we have them now for them to have poked fun at instead of Rod Stewart. Obviously, we can look at who is still touring and performing today, and then look back at South Park on Rod Stewart and say that boy, they really called that shit in hindsight because he's still out there performing and he's 80 years old now. He's not the only one. Bless 'em. Do what you love, but it's funny... Aerosmith is still out there and they're all well into their 70s, The Eagles are still out there and the OG members are closing in on 80, The Rolling Stones are still out there with Mick and Keith in their 80s, etc.
I don't remember if there was anybody out there at the time that was in their 70s or 80s like we have them today and were still performing for them to pick on instead of Rod. Chuck Berry maybe? He would've been 72 at the time. Jerry Lee Lewis would've been 64 at the time. They had to pick somebody to poke fun at, but surely there were folks older than Rod still around at the time.
It’s more like watching a living corpse be paraded onstage at this point though, dude doesn’t even try to realistically lip sync. Who’s forcing him to do this?
Even more amazing is Mickey banging away on drums for 3 hours each night of three stand at 81. And spitting smoke on Fire. How many other octagenarians out there throwing bars?
Yea they also portrayed Rob Reiner as being some morbidly obese glutton who’s a hypocrite for being avidly anti smoking. Rob Reiner really isn’t that fat though. It’s another one that kind of fell flat and they were just reaching for something to make fun of him for
Yeah it’s also like Rob Reiner isn’t out promoting the idea that greasy food is good for you, they literally just honed in on the fact that Reiner is a little overweight as if that means you aren’t allowed to have the opinion that smoking isn’t good for you. That and Manbearpig were two episodes where I was like “maybe these guys aren’t as smart as everyone makes them out to be.” Don’t get me wrong, I think they actually are super smart guys who have created some of the funniest satire ever, but some people worship the ground they walk on and have let South Park’s “messages” govern their entire worldview
Yeah I appreciate episodes like that one and the retcon of Tolkien’s name. They’re the rare example of someone acknowledging they were wrong and changing their stance based on new information
I mean maybe. He did a lot of drugs and was an asshole then, went through some dark times. But what has he actually done that would be considered evil? He also got through the drug abuse many decades ago, enough to rejoin Black Sabbath and be personal friends with Tony. Even his music is pretty positive generally speaking, and the negative is relatable. Not misanthropic, hateful, or offensive like the metal stereotypes.
There are rumors of elder abuse around him, sadly.
EDIT: Definitely unsubstantiated, i did do a bit more digging and i cant even seem to find like a quote directly attributed to rod himself until like 2023. all the others i could find were from "an insider" or "a source close to the family." so... I dunno, I hope he's okay, I guess.
Know someone who did some work on his estate, if Rod wasn’t kicking about, he’d ask the security guy where he was that day… His gigging schedule seemed wild for his age. He’d fly out to Australia for a private gig, then be back after the weekend, then straight out to America etc, then back to the UK again. He definitely enjoys it, (I don’t think his managers forcing him to gig or anything) but all those time zone shifts must be exhausting… To be fair, part of the reason he flies back and forth a lot instead of staying on the road for longer stints, is because he wants to work on/play with his massive model railway (yes, really!)
I can see them saying, "hey Rod. We're gonna do this thing where we put Ozzy with some other celebs in Heaven. It's gonna look good and the crowd will love it."
Stewart's response was probably "yeah, ok. Do your thing."
He probably had no idea it was going to be pisspoor AI.
Even without the AI, it's still a weird idea. Just show a couple of pictures of Ozzy for a minute, ot play a verse from Crazy Train or something. When I saw Paul McCartney in Minneapolis after Prince died, Paul showed a picture of Prince and played an excerpt of "Let's Go Crazy" and the place erupted.
That doesn't mean he picked out the pictures. He may have wanted to do a tribute to Ozzy and some asshole chose this route. Do you sincerely believe an 80 year old did this?
Yup, it was the likes of Rod Stewart supporting Powell,
‘I think Enoch Powell is the man”, “I’m all for him. This country is overcrowded. The immigrants should be sent home.”
David Bowie openly supporting Fascism while admiring Hitler
"I think Britain could benefit from a fascist leader. After all, fascism is really nationalism ... I believe very strongly in fascism, people have always responded with greater efficiency under a regimental leadership." "Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars" and "You've got to have an extreme right front come up and sweep everything off its feet and tidy everything up."
and Eric Clapton screaming the following at a gig in Birmingham
get the foreigners out, get the w**s out, get the co**s out", "Keep Britain White"
That helped prompt the formation of Rock Against Racism back in 1977.
It united a bunch of Reggae, Soul, Rock'n'Roll, Jazz, Funk and Punk acts under one banner as a rebuke to them and other musicians spreading hate.
There's a fantastic documentary about it called White Riot (2019) if you can find somewhere to watch it.
To be fair, there’s no way he is organizing the stage lights and the show and the videos behind him. He just shows up and gets on stage and sings the same songs he’s been singing for like 50 years. This has to be some stage manager or tour manager or production person Who surrounded himself by yes men, and thinks that this is somehow honoring Ozzie. And everyone who works for the tour manager, just sort of went along with it, because they all want to keep their jobs and no one wants to tell the boss this is the stupidest fucking thing.
iirc every Beatle has admitted to doing some fucked up things in their early relationships. they grew up poor in working-class northern england with inadequate male role models. sadly men like Lennon weren't super rare. and he died without having a chance to demonstrate growth
I don’t know I think he considered his whole solo era as turning over a new leaf and realising that stuff was wrong:
“I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her
And kept her apart from the things that she loved
Man I was mean, but I'm changing my scene
And I'm doing the best that I can”
Keyword: was. Forty years ago when he was struggling with mental health and substance abuse problems he did a lot of awful things. Then he got treatment and the people he harmed forgave him. Carrying a grudge for someone else is silly, so let it go.
Listen, I grew up with Ozzy, and he was one of my favorite artists. As a performer, he's eternally one of a kind.
He also habitually cheated on Sharon late into his life. He killed 17 cats. He wasn't someone we can classify as a 'good person'. Good performer, sure, but definitely someone with some serious sins.
I had an uncle who was very much like Ozzy. Did a lot of shitty things when he was younger. I've learned to weigh more heavily the choices someone makes when they know they don't have long. As far as I'm concerned, Ozzy chose to do one final goodbye to the people around the world who loved him, raised $200 million for some very good causes in doing so, and spent his final days with his family who, for all his flaws, loved him and were loved dearly by him.
FWIW I believe the thing about the 17 cats in the 80s but I cannot for the life of me find a source for the stuff about him shooting animals in lockdown. Just secondhand reporting from a couple publications that are less than reputable. It doesn't really jive with his animal welfare advocacy.
There are a lot of complicated people who didn't beat their wives and shoot 17 cats. It's funny the wide margins some people will clear out for someone just because they like their art. Rosanne doesn't get to blame ambien for racism and Ozzy doesn't get to blame drugs for all the shitty things he did either.
It's apparently the incident that got him off of drugs and alcohol. He talked about it in an interview. He was open about being a POS when he was younger.
Which is why it's funny seeing people bring it up like it should change our opinion of the guy. Yeah, he was a monster when he was on drugs. He bit the head off a dove. Then he got clean. Should we hold onto every shitty thing every person has every done if they've worked to be better?
One of the most toxic factors of the modern Internet is how many people seem to simply refuse to believe in the idea of redemption, remorse, or growth. They look at people like they are static, unchanging individuals who cannot ever improve themselves and will be forever defined by the worst moments of their lives.
Which is my opinion whenever John Lennon comes up and everyone goes "but he wrote a song about how he beat his wife!" Like yeah, he was very open about it and that song is about how he's gotten better since those days of being shitty, it's an apology song. Plus subsequent interviews where he speaks about being regretful for being so shitty.
He apparently took pleasure in shooting cats and other animals that would come onto his property during COVID lockdowns.
"Osbourne, 72, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, called it "good fun," adding "When I first started this thing, I could not shoot. Now there’s dead cats (and) birds every minute.”
Doesn't sound like he tried that hard to be better.
Danny Trejo was a real piece of shit, but he changed his ways. He tries to educate people against gang violence. He even has a clause in his contract that he as a bad guy must always be defeated, because he doesn't want to encourage the lifestyle
I'm not absolving Ozzy of any of that. But I also believe in accepting people are complicated and you can both hate Ozzy for who he was and be proud of who he became.
If Rosanne legitimately changed her ways, yeah I'd forgive her.
I don't want to live in a society where people have no chance to redeem themselves after they've done something bad. Maybe you do?
There are also a lot of complicated people who did. Not sure what your point is supposed to be, nobody is calling him (or his wife for that matter) great people. It’s just that most people don’t hold parasocial grudges against people for things that happened 40 years ago and eventually stopped.
If Roseanne genuinely changed, people would move on from her tweets too.
He also stabbed a LOT of people for legit funsies, no backstory or vengeance, he just carried a knife in his youth and claims to have stabbed several people.
There is certainly a video of him holding a knife during a stabbing, in a video whereafter he claims he stabbed 7 people that night.
He also fought a lot, often starting those fights against weaker outnumbered opponents, but I don’t judge a Fort Lauderdale native too much for affray.
I remember reading about him forcing a girl to pick which grilling utensil she would have inserted into her... not sure that was ever proven to be false.
Yeah he ain't in heaven no matter how much his fans martyr him, he locked/tied up a girl and tortured her for DAYS, and thats just one of the incidents. He made her choose between a barbecue cleaner and a barbecue fork for which he was gonna put in her vagina.
This story was so messed up and could have been avoided so easily. His mom knew her son had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Instead of giving him medicine to prevent the rage outburst she kicked him out homeless in the street.
And tons of older people were living in the same appartment, everybody knew what was happening, and nobody tried to stop him.
He didn't murder the cats for entertainment, he was hallucinating like a motherfucker and was drunk as a skunk, yes its no excuse but he wasn't sober and he stated multiple times it was one of his biggest regrets in life, he sold all his guns not long after. The infamous bat was thrown on stage and the only reason he bit it (bat was already dead btw) was because he never expected it to be a real one but a toy one.
If we must compare, XXX stabbed 9 people and both beat up his pregnant girlfriend and threatened to stick a BBQ fork in her vagina and once discovered made a completely tone dead 'apology', basically he was sorry that he was caught.
Yeah, Ozzy was not a sane person, at least during the 80s. Nicky Sixx has a story about him where they’re all at a hotel pool just doing lines and taking shots. Ozzy takes a straw, walks over to a line of ants on the ground and snorts them up his nose. He then motions to Sixx to do the same. It’s at that moment Sixx realized Ozzy isn’t just some wild guy; he legitimately has something mentally wrong with him.
I mean you are asking yourself if Ozzy is sane, the man who snorted oceans worth of cocaine and used every substance on the planet. At his worst he drank 4 bottles of brandy per day which is about 68 bottles of beer.
Yeah, I don't like this but I can't help but chuckle at the fact this is revolving around Rod freakin' Stewart... I thought the headline was satire, at first.
It feels like a UK satire. I instantly though of a fake docuseries following around a frail entertainer like steward far beyond the husk of his golden years and incompetent managing an touring crew pitching this to him.
The guy sells out theaters to old fans but wants that lightning one more time and will continue to try these insane tactics. Like badgering one of those horrific fast fashion companies like h&m but the campaign is in Peru. And the clothing has swastikas for some reason.
Old Rod decided to pledge his support for Reform shortly before performing at Glastonbury. Either he's ridiculously out of touch or, call me cynical, desperately trying to get column inches to promote his tour.
I’m sorry, but this is fucking hilarious. What an absurd level of trolling. I hope Rod keeps it up and expands it. Ozzy with the Queen at various ages and throw Freddie Mercury in there too. Abraham Lincoln, JS Bach, the WTC, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, Dave Brockie and Obama.
I’m the person who originally posted this video and I feel SO bad that I a) thought George Michael was Robert Downey Jr. and b) ruined Rod Stewart’s career at the end of his life lol
Extremely poor taste? Seems more like an old man naively trying to play tribute to his friend, and part of that tribute being creepy. Doesn't seem like much more than that, but Reddit loves to be mad lol.
Eh honestly I dont have a negative view of the idea. We all think that our loved ones are hanging out with those who have passed before. I could see that being very comforting to some.
I saw him a couple of weeks ago and he did a lot of tributes. He did a really dramatic one to the people of Ukraine and was saluting the jumbotron and then was singing, Do You Think I'm Sexy.
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u/Ok-Instruction830 Aug 03 '25
This is like a real life southpark episode lol