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Sky News AU
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
How Sharon Osbourne and her kids each paid tribute to Ozzy at funeral procession
The Osbournes put on a united front as they honored Ozzy Osbourne at his funeral procession in his UK hometown on Wednesday. Sharon Osbourne, her kids Jack, Kelly and Aimee, and her stepson Louis all broke down in tears as they said goodbye to the heavy metal icon alongside thousands of fans in streets of Birmingham, England. Each member of the famous family subtly included touching references to Ozzy. Sharon, 72, wore Ozzy's wedding ring on a chain around her neck. The former 'America's Got Talent' judge, who was married to Ozzy for 43 years before his death at age 76, had to be consoled by her kids as she laid purple flowers at a memorial during the funeral procession. Jack, 39, honored his dad with a small silver cross pin that he wore at the end of his tie. The pin referenced Ozzy's silver cross pendants that were part of his iconic look. Kelly, 40, sported a pair of round wire-rimmed sunglasses, another one of Ozzy's signature styles. Aimee, 41, for her part, wore a bat broach on her black blazer. The Black Sabbath frontman infamously bit the head off a real bat in 1982, thinking it was a toy animal, during a concert. Louis, who is Ozzy's son from his marriage to ex-wife Thelma Riley, celebrated the rocker's legacy by wearing a purple tie with skull and crossbones symbols. Black and purple were the colors most associated with Ozzy's band. Kelly's fiancé, Sid Wilson, and their 2-year-old son, Sidney, also attended the funeral procession. Ozzy's daughter Jessica, 45, and adopted son Elliot Kingsley, both from his first marriage, appeared to skip the event. The Prince of Darkness' family announced his death last Tuesday. 'It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,' the statement read. 'He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee, and Louis.' Ozzy, who was suffering from Parkinson's diagnosis and other ailments, made his funeral wishes clear before he died. 'I do want to make sure it's a celebration, not a mope-fest,' he said in a Dear Ozzy column for The Times of London in 2011. 'I'd also like some pranks: maybe the sound of knocking inside the coffin; or a video of me asking my doctor for a second opinion on his diagnosis of 'death,'' the musician added. 'There'll be no harping on the bad times.' Two days before the funeral, People reported that Sharon is 'heartbroken' in the wake of her husband's death. 'Everyone's rallying around her,' a source told the outlet. 'She's been the rock of this family for decades, and now it's her turn to be held up.' Meanwhile, Kelly broke her silence after Ozzy's passing on her Instagram Stories last Thursday. 'I feel unhappy I am so sad. I lost the best friend I ever had ðŸ'',' the former 'Fashion Police' co-host wrote. The quotes referenced lyrics from Black Sabbath's 'Changes.' Originally published as How Sharon Osbourne and her kids each paid tribute to Ozzy at funeral procession
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RTÉ News
Tsunami waves reach Hawaii after powerful quake in Russia
Clip • 3 Mins • 30 JUL • Morning Ireland Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor of The Times of London, reports that a Tsunami wave has reached Hawaii after powerful quake in Russia.
Herald Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Herald Sun
Ozzy Osbourne funeral: Public procession planned through Birmingham
The Prince of Darkness will be laid to rest in an intimate gathering. A week after the death of Ozzy Osbourne at age 76, his family is arranging a way to honour the late rocker. 'They're planning a small, private funeral that will be a celebration of his life,' a source told People 'Ozzy would never want a mope-fest.' Fans will be given a chance to pay their respects to Osbourne, as his funeral cortege travels through his beloved home city of Birmingham. Osbourne's body will be brought back to the city for a procession that will travel along Broad Street from 1pm on Wednesday, local time (10pm AEST). The procession, which takes place ahead of the private funeral, will pause at the Black Sabbath bench and bridge. Osbourne's loved ones, including his wife Sharon, 72, and their kids Aimee, 41, Jack, 39, and Kelly, 40, are all 'touched by all the love and support pouring in from around the world.' The former Black Sabbath frontman has previously made his funeral wishes clear. In a Dear Ozzy column for The Times of London in 2011, Osbourne was asked about his future memorial. 'I honestly don't care what they play at my funeral; they can put on a medley of Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle and We Are the Diddymen if it makes 'em happy,' he revealed to the outlet. 'But I do want to make sure it's a celebration, not a mope-fest.' Osbourne added, 'I'd also like some pranks: maybe the sound of knocking inside the coffin; or a video of me asking my doctor for a second opinion on his diagnosis of 'death.' There'll be no harping on the bad times.' 'So to answer your question, yes,' he continued, 'a bit of planning is the right thing to do for the family you leave behind.' For the heavy metal icon, Osbourne felt it was 'worth remembering that a lot of people see nothing but misery their whole lives. So by any measure, most of us in this country — especially rock stars like me — are very lucky.' With that notion in mind, the musician concluded, 'That's why I don't want my funeral to be sad. I want it to be a time to say 'thanks.'' In 2023, the reality star — who revealed his Parkinson's diagnosis in 2020 — also insisted that he 'doesn't fear death' and was well-aware that he had 'at best 10 years left.' 'I don't fear dying, but I don't want to have a long, painful and miserable existence,' he explained to Rolling Stone. 'I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to a place in Switzerland and get it done quickly. I saw my father die of cancer.' 'But look, I said to Sharon that I'd smoked a joint recently and she said, 'What are you doing that for? It'll f–king kill you!'' Osbourne admitted. 'I said, 'How long do you want me to f–king live for?!' At best, I've got 10 years left and when you're older, time picks up speed.' The late star noted about his union to the former talk show host: 'Me and Sharon had our 41st wedding anniversary recently, and that's just unbelievable to me.' At the time, he also shared that he wanted to feel 'well enough' for one more live performance before his time was up. 'If I can't continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, 'Hi guys, thanks so much for my life,'' he told the outlet. 'That's what I'm working towards, and if I drop down dead at the end of it, I'll die a happy man.' Along with plans for his memorial, Osbourne also detailed how he wanted to be remembered. In recent years, Osbourne had undergone multiple surgeries, including going under the knife for a debilitating spinal injury in 2019. 'I mean, I'm 73. People go, 'Well, you're 70… why don't I throw the towel in?' Why should I? People still want to buy my records,' he told People. 'People still want to see me, so why should I? It motivates me to get off my backside and do something. I mean, if my career had gone down the toilet and I knew it was the end, I'd be pretty miserable.' On July 5, Osbourne was able to turn one of his dreams into a reality. The singer performed at Black Sabbath's 'Back to the Beginning' farewell concert in his native Birmingham, England. Osbourne, who couldn't walk on his own anymore, sat in a black leather chair. He sang five songs solo, and was then accompanied by his former bandmates Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler for four final Black Sabbath tunes. 'You have no idea how I feel,' he told the crowd at Villa Park. 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart.' This article originally appeared on the New York Post Originally published as Ozzy Osbourne funeral: Public procession planned through Birmingham
7NEWS
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
What the ‘Superwoke' debate over Superman overlooks
A baby arrives in America from a home in turmoil. A family in Kansas raises him. And he struggles to balance two identities. Comic books, TV shows and films have repeatedly recounted these details from Superman's backstory over the past 87 years. But the director of the latest big-screen adaptation drew backlash recently when he stated something that's been said many times before: Superman is an immigrant. 'I mean, Superman is the story of America,' director James Gunn told The Times of London. 'An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.' Coming as the Trump administration steps up its immigration crackdowns, the comments quickly sparked criticism from right-wing media personalities. A Fox News banner blasted the new movie as 'Superwoke' as pundits offered their takes. 'We don't go to the movie theatre to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology on to us,' former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway SAID. Dean Cain, an actor who starred for years on TV in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and is now a conservative commentator, told TMZ he didn't like Gunn's comments and speculated that the director's decision to invoke immigration while promoting the film could be a costly mistake. So far, it hasn't been. The movie, released by Warner Brothers Discovery, finished No. 1 on its opening weekend with $US122 million ($AU187 million) in domestic ticket sales and continues to draw large audiences. And longtime fans and historians of the comic books note that Gunn's comments weren't superimposing a new storyline on the beloved hero. 'The idea of Superman being an immigrant, or maybe a refugee, has been part of the character's mythos since the very beginning. It's not something he invented or tried to shoehorn in,' Danny Fingeroth, author of Superman on the Couch: What Comic Book Heroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society, said. The first Superman story, published in 1938, stated he was sent to Earth from Krypton, a fictional doomed planet. 'It makes him not an immigrant of choice. It makes him an immigrant of necessity…a refugee,' Fingeroth says. 'He's someone who comes to Earth and to America, to then blend in and become as American as mum, the flag and apple pie.' And, Fingeroth says, there are a lot of good reasons why these details are such a key part of Superman's story. Superman's creators knew what it meant to be an immigrant in America Take the comic's creators, for example. Artist Joe Shuster and writer Jerry Siegel were both the children of Jewish immigrants who'd fled rising antisemitism in Europe. 'Just given their backgrounds and their sympathies, I think it's always been important that Superman comes from somewhere else,' Fingeroth says. The Cleveland-based duo wrote Superman's story as World War II loomed. The first page of his story describes him as 'champion of the oppressed.' 'The clouds of fascism are rolling through Europe. There's echoes of it here in America … and Superman's early adventure are fighting for the little guy, fighting for abused women, fighting for exploited mine workers, fighting against corrupt politicians,' Fingeroth says. Even before America was fighting Nazis in World War II, Superman was fighting them on comic book pages, he says. Through it all, 'Superman is the immigrant embodying the best of American qualities, even though he's from somewhere else.' What advocacy groups and professors have seen in Superman It's a connection historians and immigrant rights advocates have made, too. More than a decade ago, comic book historian Craig This organised a panel at Wright State University highlighting the immigrant backgrounds of Superman and Wonder Woman. The idea resonated with the college students he was teaching at the time, he says. 'People were coming to this large public research university, maybe thinking that they were an outsider, and then said, 'Oh, wow, look, I can see these individuals as role models. I want to try and fit in. But really, it's going to be my differences that make me survive and be successful, not just here on a college campus, but also here in the United States.'' In 2013, the organisations Define American and the Harry Potter Alliance launched a social media campaign inviting people to share selfies and their family's immigration stories with the hashtag #SupermanIsAnImmigrant. Last week that campaign's creators pushed back against critics who've been accusing Gunn of politicising his take on Superman. 'You can't politicise the truth,' Define American founder Jose Antonio Vargas and narrative strategist Andrew Slack wrote in The Hollywood Reporter. 'Superman has been an 'illegal alien' for 87 years.' A one-time undocumented immigrant himself, Vargas says today he sees an even more important message in the superhero's story. 'I think for the first time, because of this movie, because of what's happening in the country … I have people who have never talked to me about immigration talking to me about immigration,' he says. 'So we have people's attention. Now I think the question is, what are they going to do?' But Superman's immigration story isn't always mentioned Of course, Superman's origin is just one part of his story. And in the initial comic, it was also a convenient plot device, Fingeroth says, allowing the authors to explain his powers. In some versions, Fingeroth says, 'Superman's immigrant status is not mentioned.' The hero could be from Metropolis or Kansas or anywhere, 'depending on the era, depending on the creators.' Each version of Superman comes with its own plot twists. In the new film, for example, the backstory of the superhero's parents takes an unexpected turn. Superman sometimes changes with the times. And sometimes different audiences perceive him differently. Many superheroes are outsiders. And one common thread that gives them such staying power is that people from many different walks of life connect with the characters, says Fingeroth, a longtime editor of Spiderman comics. 'Their mythos and storylines and origins speak to various aspects of the human condition, and that makes them appealing. Their adventures are enjoyed by people from a wide variety of political and social and religious backgrounds,' he says. 'And yet, the myths are so powerful that they all take it as their own.' In other words, all of us can see ourselves in Superman. And that may be a reason why so many people have such strong opinions about the character even today. Last week the White House's social media accounts shared an AI-generated image based on the new movie's poster, depicting President Trump in the title role. A few days later, though, it wasn't the Man of Steel that the Trump administration referenced on social media when it drew a connection between a beloved sci-fi character and today's undocumented immigrants. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security shared the iconic image of ET's bicycling silhouette. The text superimposed over the moon: 'GO HOME.'
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Ozzy Osbourne revealed one condition for his funeral before death at 76
Legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne said he didn't want his funeral to be a 'mope-fest' — but instead a celebration of his life. More than a decade before his death at age 76 last week, the Black Sabbath icon divulged on wishes for his funeral when the time eventually came. In a Dear Ozzy column for The Times of London in 2011, the 'Crazy Train' hitmaker, who was dubbed the Prince of Darkness, was asked if he had any thoughts on his memorial. 5 Legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne said he didn't want his funeral to be a 'mope-fest.' Ozzy Osbourne/Instagram 'I honestly don't care what they play at my funeral; they can put on a medley of Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle and We Are the Diddymen if it makes 'em happy,' he said at the time. 'But I do want to make sure it's a celebration, not a mope-fest.' 'I'd also like some pranks: maybe the sound of knocking inside the coffin; or a video of me asking my doctor for a second opinion on his diagnosis of 'death.' There'll be no harping on the bad times.' The 'War Pigs' rock star then addressed the fan's question. 'So to answer your question, yes, a bit of planning is the right thing to do for the family you leave behind.' 5 More than a decade before his death at age 76 last week, the Black Sabbath icon divulged on wishes for his funeral when the time eventually came. Getty Images for The Recording Academy Ozzy added that it's 'worth remembering that a lot of people see nothing but misery their whole lives. So by any measure, most of us in this country — especially rock stars like me — are very lucky.' 'That's why I don't want my funeral to be sad. I want it to be a time to say 'thanks,'' he added. In 2023, Ozzy said he would 'die a happy man' if he could express his gratitude to loyal fans ahead of his farewell show. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2023, the musician admitted that his final wish was to feel 'well enough' for one more live performance before his time was up. 5 'I don't want my funeral to be sad. I want it to be a time to say 'thanks,'' Ozzy said. Greg Draven/X 'If I can't continue doing shows on a regular basis, I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, 'Hi guys, thanks so much for my life,'' he told the outlet. 'That's what I'm working towards, and if I drop down dead at the end of it, I'll die a happy man.' The rocker's wish came true on July 5 when he took to the stage for the final time at his Black Sabbath farewell concert, titled 'Back to the Beginning,' in Birmingham, England. Ozzy wowed the 42,000-person crowd at Villa Park for what turned out to be his last performance in his lifetime. 5 Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22 aged 76 after battling Parkinsons for years. Redferns via Getty Images Elsewhere in his 2023 interview, the rocker insisted that he 'doesn't fear death' and was well-aware that he had 'at best 10 years left.' 'I don't fear dying, but I don't want to have a long, painful and miserable existence. I like the idea that if you have a terminal illness, you can go to a place in Switzerland and get it done quickly. I saw my father die of cancer.' He went on, 'But look, I said to Sharon [Osbourne] that I'd smoked a joint recently and she said, 'What are you doing that for? It'll f–king kill you!' 'I said, 'How long do you want me to f–king live for?!' At best, I've got 10 years left and when you're older, time picks up speed.' 5 The rocker is survived by his wife, Sharon Osbourne, six children and 10 grandkids. FilmMagic 'Me and Sharon had our 41st wedding anniversary recently, and that's just unbelievable to me,' he added. The rocker is survived by his wife, Sharon Osbourne, six children and 10 grandkids.
