“Tony Iommi has been so supportive of me since my illness. Geezer Butler hasn’t given me one phone call": Ozzy Osbourne is gutted that his ex-Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler doesn't want to know him anymore

Frosty: Ozzy and Geezer
(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Ozzy Osbourne says that he's "very fucking sad" that his old friend and long-time bandmate Geezer Butler doesn't seem to want to know him anymore. And the former friendship between the pair is unlikely to be mended by the singer calling the bassist a "Fucking arsehole" in a new interview.

In his autobiography Into The Void, Butler admitted that the two musicians no longer speak, writing, "Me and Ozzy are fine, it's just that we're both ruled by our wives. He's got a big heart and was always there for me in times of trouble... We might not be as close as we were, but we'll always be brothers."

In a new interview with Rolling Stone UK, Osbourne acknowledges that a falling out between his wife/manager Sharon and Gloria Butler has led to a break-down in the pair's friendship, and laments the fact that their relationship is at a new low.

“Tony Iommi has been so supportive of me since my illness,” Osbourne says. “Geezer Butler hasn’t given me one fucking phone call. Not one fucking call.”

“When his son was fucking born, I phoned him every fucking night even though we were at war with each other, Black Sabbath and me [after his sacking]. I thought, ‘Fuck it, he’s my mate, I’m gonna call him.’ But from him, not one fucking call. 

“It’s sad, man. We all grew up together, and he can’t pick up the fucking phone like a man and see how I’m doing. Even Bill Ward has been in touch with me. I said some things about Bill, and I don’t know why I said it, but when I came through my illness, he contacted me.”

“I’m not in shock, I’m just very fucking sad that he can’t just call me after all this time and say, ‘How you doing?’ Fucking arsehole.” 

Osbourne goes on to say that the fall-out between his wife and Butler's wife shouldn't have affected his friendship with his old pal, adding “Are you really going to hide behind your wife’s skirt because of that?”

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.