Cliff Notes – Sir Rod Stewart’s ‘tacky’ AI tribute comes far too soon after Ozzy Osbourne’s death
- Sir Rod Stewart faced backlash for an AI-generated video tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, featuring the late musician with deceased celebrities, which many fans deemed inappropriate and disrespectful so soon after Osbourne’s passing.
- The video, shown during Stewart’s performance of “Forever Young,” included a mix of famous deceased artists, leading to criticism that it lacked personal connection and was poorly conceived.
- Fans expressed outrage over the use of AI technology to depict deceased individuals without consent, highlighting ethical concerns surrounding the portrayal of late celebrities in such a manner.
Sir Rod Stewart’s ‘tacky’ AI tribute comes far too soon after Ozzy Osbourne’s death
Sir Rod Stewart is facing backlash over his Ozzy Osbourne tribute for the star who died last month. Fans at Sir Rod Stewart’s latest gigs were left horrified after an AI video of Ozzy Osbourne meeting dead musicians in heaven was shown on screen.
The Prince of Darkness could be seen smiling as he held a selfie stick and posed with the likes of George Michael, Amy Winehouse, and Kurt Cobain.
It played as Sir Rod dedicated the track Forever Young to the late Black Sabbath legend, but many felt the AI video was too ‘tacky’ and simply too soon.
Osbourne died aged 76 on July 22 and was laid to rest on July 31, with a procession through his hometown of Birmingham.
Days later, on Saturday, August 2, the AI video was splashed across the screen in what one fan described as ‘man-made horrors beyond [their] comprehension.’
Using artificially generated footage of dead celebrities (and regular people) always proves contentious, but Sir Rod really angered fans with this move.
Osbourne died last month after years of ill health
So Rod Stewart has been on tour dedicating Forever Young to Ozzy… and now he’s showing the AI generated video of him in heaven taking selfies with all these dead artists… I’ve seen some shitty AI visuals in concerts but this is a new low pic.twitter.com/WZMCNFlrOU
— peter lane (@peterlanee) August 3, 2025
Sloane Steel, who was at the Alabama concert where the video was unveiled, called it ‘the craziest most disrespectful s**t I ever saw in my life’.
The comments on her Instagram post largely agreed with her, as playattentionnow replied: ‘Weekend at Bernie’s vibes. Prince didn’t even want his music on Spotify and changed his name to a Symbol to protect his intellectual property.
‘I’m 100% sure he wouldn’t have signed off on Rod Stewart puppeteering his face for this tacky 💩.’
Dietcokeconnoisseur added: ‘Omfg I was there too and was horrified by this 😂.’
‘Good idea: pay tribute to Ozzy and his friends in heaven,’ said theroseboy22. ‘Bad Idea: Making an AI-generated video with his dead friends/members.’
He could be seen with a selfie stick posing with famous dead celebrities (Picture: @peterlanee/x)
Many felt the video was in poor taste (Picture: @peterlanee/x)
It aired while Sir Rod sang Forever Young (Picture: @peterlanee/x)
The (somewhat baffling) list included Prince, George Michael, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Tina Turner, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, Aaliyah, Michael Jackson and XXXTentacion.
‘Those aren’t even Ozzy’s friends,’ criticised jenndependence. ‘I doubt he even knew most of those people. That’s part of what makes this so cringey, they just threw in any dead celebrity they could think of.
Even more bizarre, the video was seemingly taken from a TikTok account called Eternal Stars, the sole purpose of which is to make AI videos of dead people.
This wasn’t a tribute made by Sir Rod’s team, or footage taken from old Osbourne videos (of which there are plenty) or even a personal picture of the pair together.
It was made by a random TikTok AI generator with no personal touch at all, plastered on a screen by someone who called Osbourne his ‘friend’.
Sir Rod had previously shared a tribute to his ‘friend’ on Instagram (Picture: Mathew Tsang/Getty Images)
The AI video was slammed as ‘tacky’
The resounding feeling from fans was that this was a huge misstep on a topic that is still incredibly raw for many people.
Many are still grieving the death of the icon who invented heavy metal, making Sir Rod’s surprising inclusion even more jarring.
Only days before, we all watched a heartbroken Sharon Osbourne weeping in her children’s arms as she stood at Black Sabbath Bridge to see the thousands of tributes left for her husband.
At the time of the Glastonbury Legend’s concert, it hadn’t even been a full month since Osbourne was last on stage himself for his farewell gig with Black Sabbath.
Just days before, the Osbournes had a funeral for the music icon in Birmingham. Fans felt the video was a poor tribute to the Prince of Darkness.
Described as ‘frail’ by bandmate Geezer Butler, he sat in a chair the entire gig, looking thrilled to perform one final time for the sea of fans.
That’s before we even dive into the morality of reanimating dead celebrities, often without their permission, to use their likeness for our own gain.
Shockingly, there are no requirements to gain permission to make AI deepfakes of people, so it’s unlikely the Osbournes were even aware of the original TikTok.
While Sir Rod may not have meant to offend fans, he clearly has. Maybe it’s best to quietly drop the AI and use some iconic Osbourne clips instead, at least then he’ll be authentically Ozzy.
