It seems as if any time anyone -- no matter how "powerful" they may be -- says something negative about Sharon Osbourne, they end up apologizing profusely. This time around, Kevin Lyman of the Warped Tour does the groveling.
First, some history. The Kansas City Star did a piece on the free Ozzfest coming to town, and for some reason, asked Kevin Lyman of the not-free, and not even a direct competitor, tour, Warped, what he thought. He shared the following opinion that, in reality, doesn't seem wildly inaccurate:
It allowed Ozzy Osbourne to get one more paycheck out of (Ozzfest), to be 100 percent honest,” said Kevin Lyman, organizer of the Warped tour that will be at Verizon Aug. 15. “Sharon’s a smart person, but basically that’s what it is. It’s a ploy, straight up. Ozzy’s getting paid to do that show. She was struggling to put (together a bill) because she keeps charging more and more and selling less and less tickets. The attendance of that tour has been dropping for many years, and she keeps having to spend more on the talent to get people to the shows.
Now, what the middle step -- whatever went on in the time period between that quote to the open letter that follows -- wasn't public. I'm shocked Sharon even had the time to worry about it, considering Ozzy had surgery for a blood clot earlier this week. But apparently, they spoke at some point [or maybe a horse's head turned up in Mr. Lyman's bed?], and now Kevin is deeply sorry he offended one Mrs. Osbourne.
Dear Sharon,
Good speaking with you just now. Per our discussion, I wanted to apologize if any of my comments quoted in the Kansas Star News were taken out of context or based on misinformation I was given. It was not my intent to discredit Ozzy or your family in any way.
If Ozzy is in fact working for expenses only, then I was wrong in saying he was out for one more paycheck. I’ll be the first to say I should not bother myself with other tours and keep my nose in my own projects as they have been keeping me busy enough as it is. For that,
I’m sorry - If you feel the need to release this letter in it’s entirety to your Ozzfest fans, please do so – I’ve always been a supporter of Ozzfest and the work you do and hope that this summer’s tour brings you and Ozzy great success.
Kevin Lyman
Shoutmouth user HeatherBat was at Ozzfest last night in Dallas, TX, and offered up this report on Ozzy's performance:
"He was singing not only completely out of tune, but out of time as well. But I forgive him -- he's Ozzy. From the stage, he said, 'I shouldn't even be singing, I've got this fucking blood clot.' And then he muttered something incoherent about Dallas, and fuck and some more fuck, and loved us. Those were the only words I could make out of the second part."
Good to see that Sharon's need to have him on the road isn't at all driving him to an early grave.
And I'll just get it over with now: sorry, Sharon.
