Ozzy Osbourne was never meant to be a saint. He bit the head off a bat and dove, survived decades of drug abuse, tried to kill his wife (while under the influence of drugs), and still made his way into a global icon. Like many public figures though — especially from his generation — he carried contradictions. And lately, one of those contradictions has come under fire: his support for Zionism.
As someone who grew up worshipping Sabbath and Ozzy, I’ve been struggling to reconcile my love for his legacy with my politics. I’m anti-Zionist. I believe in the liberation of Palestine and the end of apartheid. And Ozzy’s apparent support for Israel during a time of intense suffering in Gaza felt like a gut punch.
But then came his farewell show: Back to the Beginning. A titanic goodbye organize by none other than Tom Morello: guitar god, anti-Zionist activist, and arguably one of the most politically consistent artists of our time. Morello curated the whole event, helped raise nearly $200 million for Parkinson’s and children’s hospitals, and sat side-by-side with Ozzy to send him off.
So what the hell do I do with that?
Do I cancel Ozzy? Do I cancel Morello for working with him? Do I cancel myself for loving them both?
No. I sit with the contradictions. Because real politics aren’t clean. They’re messy, emotional, and riddled with human inconsistency.
Ozzy supported Black Lives Matter. He stood up for the LGBTQ+. He raised a staggering amount of money for causes that matter. He was also, like many aging boomers, wildly out of his depth when it came to the geopolitics of Israel and Palestine. That doesn’t excuse it, but it does contextualize it, especially considering his declining health and the heavy medications he was on during his final years.
Morello’s participation doesn’t “excuse” Ozzy either, but it does suggest that celebrating someone’s musical legacy doesn’t always mean endorsing their politics. That nuance is lost in today’s discourse, which often demands total purity or total exile. But art, like people, is rarely so simple.
I can love “Mr. Crowley” and still rage against apartheid. I can blast “War Pigs” and say Ozzy got it wrong. And I can respect the farewell show while also wishing that one of the final statements of a metal god hadn’t included a blind spot so many in the West still carry.
Again, rest in power, Ozzy. And may the rest of us keep pushing — louder, harder, and more unapologetically — for a world where all people live free from occupation and oppression.
Free Palestine.
Sisyphus Shrugged 
I’m not a Zionist but I’m not opposed to Judaism itself. Which puts me in a similar position to you regarding Wagner, a notorious antisemite who made incredible music. Amongst the best classical music of all in my opinion. Someone who’s art I admire, but whose politics I do not. And I have come to terms with such contradictory “heroes” by playing one thing off against another. Churchill was a racist who hated Indians and Africans. Disgusting. But his toughness and intellect played a huge part in keeping Britain from being overrun by “the Hun”. Very few human beings are anywhere near close to being perfect. Many nowhere near close to being half-decent. So I suppose a “sum total” is required for us to find where we sit with our flawed geniuses. Which you seem to be about as well. BLM and LGBTQ+ are two of the groups most hated by the Right in America and the UK. Anyone who supports them is fine by me because those that condemn them seem like the most ignorant cowards and deluded liars. I’d put Ozzy’s Zionism down to misinterpretation on his part. Its an easy thing to do when all the Western governments usually fall into line behind America regarding Israel. When civilised nations do not condemn barbarity, its an easy cop out for their citizens. Saudi Arabia gets away with murder because our governments see it as an asset. Like a police officer glossing over the rape and murder of a young woman by one of his especially useful informants because he sees “the bigger picture” rather than the fucking point of his job. Misinterpretation. Some of which is terrible, all of which there is no excuse for really.
I suppose it all comes down to the criteria that we are prepared to asses people with. If Trump says something racist a lot of us would call it typical Trump. If someone we largely like says something racist our response might be “That’s bad, but he’s a good guy really”.
Problem is that some people say that about Netanyahu.
On a side note, an American woman on YouTube recently asked me a question as to why she, as an American tax payer, should pay for the millions in aid that have gone to Gaza. (citation needed) “What have they done with the money?” she demanded.
I told her that America was in the process of delivering $38 BILLION in military aid to Israel of American tax payers money. And asked her what has Israel done with the money? They’ve used it to destroy all the investments in Gaza of American money, using American money. Fucking crazy.
Its also interesting how few of the right wing Christian/Jewish “news channels” on YouTube bothered to cover the rather interesting story of the Israeli (militant) settlers who recently burnt down the last Christian town on the West Bank whilst locals looked on. The settlers used leaf blowers to fan the flames. They, like the IDF, are clearly out of control.
Sorry, I drift off subject sometimes. I liked Ozzy. Wasn’t a massive fan, but he was an origjnal, larger than life, character and a proper “bloke”. And he seemed to me to struggle through life. You’ve referred to some of his addictions. And I’m not sure larger fame did him much good. That generation of rockers seemed most at home doing gigs rather than reality Tv shows. Real musicians playing real music when the less talented wouldn’t get away with being pretty boys who couldn’t sing and couldn’t play.
Yes, R.I.P. Ozzy and yes, FREE Palestine.
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I really appreciate this reply. You nailed something that gets lost in the online pressure to declare everyone either a saint or a monster: the “sum total.” The full calculus of a person, art included, rarely adds up to anything neat. It’s messy math. And with people like Ozzy — or Wagner, or Churchill, or even Morello — it gets even messier.
I think the comparison to Wagner is useful, but with a twist: Wagner was explicitly antisemitic, and his ideology was weaponized by fascists. Ozzy, as far as I can tell, didn’t advocate for Zionism as a political project. He seemed to fall into that Western fog that treats “support for Israel” as default, especially among people who grew post-Holocaust but pre-Intifada. Doesn’t make it right. But like you said, misinterpretation is baked into the system, especially when entire governments parrot the same tired script.
What worries me is how that misinterpretation gets covered by apathy or treated as harmless. The same way we’ve been told Saudi Arabia is an “ally” or how arms deals get sold as “defense contracts,” or how Gaza gets framed as a failed state instead of a caged one. It’s all misdirection. And the artists who fall for it — even the ones we love — are just further proof that propaganda works.
You’re spot-on about the hypocrisy too. If someone like Trump says something heinous, it confirms the narrative. But when someone beloved or progressive stumbles, there’s this scramble to justify it. I’m not interested in justifying Ozzy’s Zionist comments, just understanding how someone who stood up for the marginalized in one context could miss the mark completely in the next
That woman asking where the money to Gaza went, I’ve heard that question a lot. The way you flipped it back was perfect. Israel’s billions in U.S. military aid have literally been used to destroy every ounce of aid already given to Gaza. It’s like setting fire to your neighbor’s house and then blaming them for not rebuilding fast enough.
Also, I hadn’t heard about the burning of the Christian town. That story should be everywhere, but it won’t be because it doesn’t fit the “chosen people under siege” narrative. Settler violence gets sanitized or buried, while any resistance from the occupied is cast as terrorism. That asymmetry is why we have to keep pushing.
Maybe that’s the thread that ties it all together: not purity, not perfection, but persistence. We sit with the contradictions not to excuse them, but to work through them, and to fight for something better because we’re willing to name the ugly parts. Art helps us feel. Politics demands we act. And when the two collide? That’s where the hard conversations start.
Thanks again for the response, Oak. It made me feel a little less alone in the mess.
Free Palestine. Still and always.
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Re confirming the narrative, one thing that does get thrown at me a lot is the idea that condemning Israel makes me an antisemite. And that I am a dupe of Hamas propaganda. But I don’t listen to what Hamas says, or what Israel says. They are both responsible for the wanton destruction of human beings so I don’t value what they say as its likely to be lies and propaganda anyway. The very fact that Israel will not allow foreign media into Gaza is proof enough of their evils deeds. So we can’t listen to honest journalists. But we can listen to the doctors who are striving to keep people alive there. And what they say is as damning as it gets. Israel truly has become Nazi Germany in every sense.
The Christian town is called Taybeh. Its been attacked on numerous occasions. The last attack was four days ago. Its was also attacked earlier in July. Cars were set on fire and threatening grafitti sprayed on walls. Previously buildings have been damaged by fire, including the 5th Century Church of St.George. Clearly this is a campaign of intimidation. Western Far Right news channels seem to have unanimously ignored this blatant evidence of Israeli settler extremism.
Don’t feel alone. There are thousands of people on YouTube condemning Israel in rational and factual terms, and there seems to be a growing impetus amongst European states to recognise Palestine as a nation. That isn’t enough, of course. European states should throw off American influence and impose sanctions on Israel. and we could really use a UN peacekeeping force on the ground, but the UN seems to have lost its balls since the War in Iraq.
Every day is another day of hateful injustice meted out to our fellow human beings in Gaza. There are signs that the tide may be turning against Israel in a political sense, but so so slowly. And the hindering Trump administration has, somehow, to be brought to book for its complicity in this modern day Holocaust. Along with the Israeli government, of course.
Free Palestine.
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Back to your point about imperfect heroes. I agree, with your last paragraph. And its worth the uncomfortable inner conflict that we sustain when we have to deal with the follies of those that give us so much through their art. A fair exchange, I think. And an interesting stimulus for our own philosophical development.
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Btw I was wonder if you had any views on the writer Charles Bukowski. A friend of mine is a bit of a fan and he’s very well read, like yourself. Big Kafka fan as well.
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Wondering, d’oh!
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I was actually a huge fan of Bukowski in my teen years. Loved his books Ham on Rye and Post Office. Much like Nietzsche and Ayn Rand though, I grew out of him in my late 20s and 30s. Although I’m not one to call people a drunk since a lot of my 20s consisted of getting drunk, but he was a womanizer too which I can’t get behind. I’ll give credit where it’s due though … he was a fantastic writer.
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I get the impression that he was one of those flawed heroes. I’m not sure what my mate thinks about him now, I’ll have to ask. But he was a fan in his twenties. My mate is Jewish, so flawed heroes and Israel kind of led to Bukowski for me as the two subjects that we discussed in your blog come together in him. My mate’s view on Israel is certain and uncompromising. He believes that the Jews are the LAST people who should commit genocide as they are the first people who should remember what happened to them in the past. He finds it incomprehensible that the Jewish state is so completely the opposite of what it was supposed to be.
I to illustrate this I took the liberty of quoting what I consider the most important part of the Declaration of the Establishment of Israel, that, far from being a justification for over-reaching Zionism as some people claim, is, in fact, the complete opposite. I quote.
“THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”
Much of the rest of the declaration feels like filler, but this section makes clear the lofty and wholesome ambitions of the fledgling state.
I wonder if Netanyahu has read the declaration in the last few decades at all? And if he did, did he cry or did he just spit.?
I’ve always found Nietzsche an interesting thinker, and I’m currently checking one of his inspirations Schopenhauer. Have you any views on the latter at all?
As for Charles Bukowski, I have read a little of his work, but not enough, I must admit. What I read I did like though.
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I love and adore Schopenhauer. He confronted human suffering at the core of existence without flinching. He didn’t sugarcoat life, he exposed it, dissected it, and still found meaning in art and compassion. Reading him helped me make peace with the darker parts of my own mind. Schopenhauer didn’t lie to us, he looked life in the face and saw its cruelty and absurdity and didn’t look away.
As far as Netanyahu, I doubt he’s read it, or if he has, it was a long time ago and he’s forgotten. I’ve had to do a really deep dive on the Israel and Palestine conflict over the past two years because I didn’t know enough about it to have an opinion so I got all the books I could, talked with friends and people who aren’t friends, watched and read the news before forming an opinion.
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Thanks for your views on Bukowski and Schopenhauer, K. That’s quite a tribute to the latter. I look forward to finding out more about his work.
Yeah. I doubt Bibi has read the Declaration since he last had dark hair.
I’ve always had a sympathy with the Palestinians. I’m not against the existence of Israel. But I am entirely against the settlers expanding further into Palestinian lands. The settlers seem gung-ho, like it was the Wild West and the Palestinians were the Injuns.
There seem to be too many Israelis who appear to believe that the Holocaust actually somehow gives them a “free hit” when it comes to international law and human rights. Which is perverse in my opinion. Nice chatting with you. Free Palestine. R.I.P. Ozzy.
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