Rod Stewart slammed for 'distasteful' AI Ozzy Osbourne tribute 'in heaven' at gig
Rod Stewart has been fiercely slammed by Ozzy Osbourne fans following his AI graphic concert tribute to the late Black Sabbath star who was seen taking selfies with other dead stars in heaven. The 80-year-old Maggie May hitmaker, who is currently on tour in the US, had reportedly been dedicating his 1988 tune Forever Young to Ozzy, who died aged 76 on July 22.
However, Rod's added background visual while he played the song has sparked some controversy. Footage of the star's concert at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, Georgia, which has since gone viral, captured an AI-generated sequence which shows a gleeful Ozzy posing for snaps with a range of other late music legends, using a selfie stick.
The video, which aired at Stewart's gig on August 1, featured other famous faces including Prince, Tina Turner, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, Aaliyah, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain, George Michael, XXXTentacion, Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse.
The video, which has since been viewed over seven million times on X alone, has been heavily criticised online.
One social media user slammed Stewart's move as they wrote: "Sick and not the cool way. This is weird as hell."
A second fumed: "This is beyond disrespectful. who told him this was a good idea? these people and their families would be disgusted."
Someone else chimed in: "This is incredibly distasteful."
A fourth added: "This is so disrespectful it's not even funny."
Meanwhile, other fans on TikTok took no issue with the video and praised Sir Rod for honouring Ozzy.
One person wrote: "Beautiful job Sir."
Another remarked: "I'm hearing about some backlash, so what's the problem! I think Rod Stewart was very nice and considerate to pay tribute to Ozzy."
A third slammed critics as they penned: "I think this was a really nice loving respectful way he was trying to show how his grief and how he missed all of them. People need to chill everyone mourns in their own way."
In addition to this, TMZ reports that Tupac Shakur's stepbrother, Mopreme Shakur, said that he has no issues with Rod's AI tribute.
He told the outlet: "I'm pretty sure we all love Rod Stewart. I'm not sure about the legalities of it, but I have no problem with him memorialising the greats. Personally, I'm good with it."
Osbourne, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019, died on July 22 at the age of 76.
His death came just days after his final performance at Villa Park where he reunited on stage with his Black Sabbath bandmates one last time on July 5.
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Since his passing, heartfelt tributes have been pouring in from around the globe from grieving friends and fans.
Black Sabbath Bench in his home city of Birmingham.
Ozzy was laid to rest last week in a private funeral that took place in Buckinghamshire.
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