Ozzy Osbourne hit out at Kanye West on Friday over an uncleared Black Sabbath sample. A request to license the sample had been declined, he added, because the rapper is "an antisemite” who “has caused untold heartache to many". With Sharon Osbourne threatening legal action, the sample has been removed from West's new collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, which was independently released to streaming services last week.
A version of new track 'Carnival' featuring the sample was played at a pre-release listening party. "Kanye West asked permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of 'Iron Man' ... and was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many", a post on Ozzy Osbourne's X profile stated on Friday. "He went ahead and used the sample anyway at his album listening party last night. I want no association with this man!"
Later in the day, Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon told reporters "we are considering legal action". She added, “Ozzy has not spoken to Kanye but our team have spoken with theirs". A different version of 'Carnival' to that played at the listening party, with the Black Sabbath sample removed, appears on the streaming version of West and Ty Dolla $ign's album 'Vultures1’.
Sharon Osbourne is of Jewish descent. She told the Jewish Chronicle last month, “We were brought up in basically a Jewish household. My family, my father’s family, my aunt, my cousins, are all Jewish. And observant Jews who practice and love their religion. So Judaism is the only religion I have, and the only one with which I feel comfortable".
West, of course, was widely condemned for a series of antisemitic statements that he made in 2022. His former business partners in the music industry cut their ties and Adidas cancelled its partnership with the rapper around his Yeezy brand.
Late last year he published an apology in Hebrew on his Instagram profile in which he said, “It was not my intention to hurt or demean and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused".
However, he has continued to court controversy, last month wearing a t-shirt from Burzum, the music project of controversial Norwegian musician Varg Vikernes, whose crimes include inciting racial hatred.
