Sharon Osbourne has no love lost for Bruce Dickinson. Ozzy's wife and manager blasted the Iron Maiden frontman as a "fucking asshole" in a new interview with Consequence, adding that he's "so jealous" of her husband.
The bad blood between Sharon and Dickinson dates back to 2005 when Maiden's power was cut off and they were pelted by eggs, lighters and ice during the last night of their headlining run on Ozzfest. It soon became apparent that Sharon was behind it all. After Maiden left the stage, she came up to tell the audience that Dickinson had disrespected Ozzy and the festival throughout the tour.
"From day one, Bruce Dickinson started berating Ozzy and belittling the Ozzfest audience," read a statement later released by Sharon. "He stated he 'didn't need a reality show to give him credibility;' 'We're not just some f—ing reunion band;' and continuously complained about the sound system, saying that when he comes back to America, he'll have a better one."
Sharon doubled down on her dislike of the Maiden vocalist in the new interview. "Bruce Dickinson is a fucking prick," she said. "Well, no, he's not a prick because a prick's nice. He's a fucking asshole. Because the situation is he was on a tour called Ozzfest. And Ozzy Osbourne was paying him every night to perform. He accepted the gig. He knew what he was doing. He accepted the gig. And every night he would go onstage and say bad things about Ozzy. And the crew and everybody in all the other bands would be like, 'Are you letting him get away with it?' And I'm like, 'I sure am.' But the last gig was [just outside of] L.A. And I thought, 'You motherfucker, now you're gonna get it.' And so I had about 20 people in the audience and a lot of them were nurses from Cedars Sinai, because I had cancer at that time. And they were all my chemo nurses. And they all came down, and they fucking pelted the shit out of him. And my thing is, you play, you pay! And the thing is, if you're being paid to do a gig, but you don't like the person, then fuck off. But don't stay, take the money, take all the good that's coming to your band through being on a festival, doing 24 shows and still slagging the person that's paying you. It's like, 'No, that makes you a fucking asshole.' And he is. And he's never apologized, he never even went up and said hello to Ozzy. The thing about him is that he is just so jealous. And always has been of Ozzy. And that's his problem."
She added: "Because the thing is about Bruce Dickinson, he's hugely successful. He's got a great fan base, a great fan base that have been loyal. The band are great guys. All the band are great. And they do great. You know, they're a great band, you can't take it away, and neither would I take that away from them. But the thing about Bruce is, he is unknown to the public. Bruce Dickinson could walk into anywhere and nobody would know who the fuck he is. Do you know what I'm saying? He's a faceless singer to the general public. People aren't scrambling to get him for an interview. And the thing is, he's not interesting. But the thing is, Ozzy is original and Bruce isn't and that's what eats Bruce away."
