The great Ozzy Osbourne has been taken to court several times over the span of his illustrious career, from royalty disputes, trademark infringements, and public intoxication to publicly urinating on historical landmarks. He was even accused once of brainwashing unwell 80s teenagers into self-termination through subliminal messaging in his lyrics. This time, Ozzy is facing a copyright lawsuit for allegedly posting unauthorized photos of himself on his social media accounts without the permission of the photographer.
The charges were filed last Monday in Los Angeles in federal court, and the seventy-six year old rocker is accused of posting multiple images that were taken by professional Rock photographer Neil Zlozower. According to the Zlozower’s attorneys, Ozzy posted the images on his social media accounts without permission from the famed photographer, or paying a licensing fee:
“The accounts are key components of defendant’s popular and lucrative commercial enterprise,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant has over 12 million followers on [Facebook], and over 6 million followers on Instagram, and over 5 million followers on X — all of which are monetized and provide significant financial benefits to defendant.”
The pictures themselves date all the way back to 1982, with the late/great guitarist, Randy Rhodes (who died in a plane crash that same year), and 1987, with his longtime axe man, Zakk Wylde. There are several others from throughout the years.
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Nobody from Camp Ozzy has commented on the lawsuit as of the date of this publication, but he’s not the first celebrity to be taken before a judge over this issue. He joins the likes of Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Emily Ratajkowski, LeBron James, and Katy Perry, who have all faced similar lawsuits over sharing photos of themselves.
It has been dark times for the Ozzman since he has entered the winter years of his long, extraordinary life. Ozzy (and his wife/manager Sharon Osbourne) announced his diagnosis of Stage 2 Parkinson’s Disease on Good Morning America in 2020, and he recently related that he has a tough time walking. He shared this on his Sirius XM show, “Ozzy Speaks“:
“I go on about the way I can’t walk and I can’t do this,” Ozzy said to his cohost. “But you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I’m still alive. I may be moaning that I can’t walk as well…but as I look down the road, there’s people that didn’t do half as much as me and they didn’t make it. When you get up in the morning, you just jump outta bed,” he continued. “Oh I have to balance myself, you know? But you know, I’m not dead, as you say. I’m still actively doing things.”
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The Ozzman is set to perform with Black Sabbath on July 5th at Villa Park at a farewell show called Back To The Beginning in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England. The event will also feature performances from bands such as Metallica, Slayer, and Alice in Chains, with the proceeds going to Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice, a hospice for children supported by Aston Villa. Tickets are on sale at Live Nation.
Your parents can tell you all about how the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” dominated the 80s, and even some of the 90s with multi-platinum albums that are all loaded with classic bangers from back in heyday of Rock music. They will also chew your ear off with unbelievable moments involving the wonderful Blizzard of Ozz, and the wonderful things he’s done. Which includes (but certainly not limited to) superhuman amounts of substance abuse, snorting lines of insects, attempted uxoricide, and orally decapitating tiny winged creatures.
However, it is your grandparents who will regale you with the exploits of John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne’s early years as frontman for the genre defining four-piece from Birmingham which all metalheads know as the mighty Black Sabbath. The origin of almost every heavy guitar riff and dark melody can be found across the nine studio albums Ozzy contributed to the band’s multiple incarnations (RIP, DIO).
While it is painful for fans to see this happen to the Rock icon when he already has enough problems to deal with, it still doesn’t justify using a picture that wasn’t his to share when he could’ve easily had someone else snap a new one of him with the exact same instrument he uses to post onto his accounts. The whole situation is crazy, but that’s how it goes…