Jack Osbourne is opening up about Yungblud’s relationship with his family, and how the rocker has honored Ozzy Osbourne following his passing.
On Tuesday’s episode of Jack and Ryan Drexler’s Trying Not to Die podcast, the 39-year-old reality star spoke to Yungblud — whose real name is Dominic Richard Harrison — about his participation in the epic 2025 MTV VMAs tribute to Ozzy last month, and broke down in tears as he thanked the singer for what he meant to his late father and their family.
“After the VMAs, some rockstars were slagging you off, being like, ‘Oh, he’s just clout chasing. He’s jumping on the bandwagon of Ozzy passing.’ But I kind of wanted to use this opportunity to talk about this,’” Jack told Yungblud, 28.
“As a family, we’ve talked about this. You’ve been so graceful over the last two months,” Jack continued, voice cracking as he became choked up.
“Oh, bud,” Yungblud replied, before immediately getting up out of his seat and giving Jack a hug to comfort him.
After the two returned to their chairs following the emotional embrace, Jack continued to praise Yungblud, and defend him against critics of the VMAs tribute, in which the British singer, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, and Nuno Bettencourt paid homage to Ozzy by performing a medley of Black Sabbath and Ozzy’s biggest hits.
“You were so much more involved, and we’ve respected that you’ve respected that. These people didn’t f–king know,” Jack said tearfully. “They didn’t know. They don’t know the f–king story of it. They don’t know the things we know. And I was just kind of like, ‘F–k you, dude. Dom meant something to my dad. My dad meant something to Dom.’”
“The way I see it, we were all like, ‘Yeah, you go.’ I mean, I f–king texted you the night of the gig and I was like, f–king crush it!” he added.
“I think that strangest thing about that was … and I’m going to get emotional now,” Yungblud replied, getting choked up, “is all I was trying to do was my best for your old man, because he gave me such a gift.”
The “Abyss” singer called other musicians who are criticizing the VMAs performance “bitter and jealous.”
“When people try and intellectualize a sense of spirit and six musicians on a stage going, ‘We f–king love you, man,’” Yungblud said. “It’s just bitter and jealous, and they are doing the things that they say that we are doing. They’re trying to insert themselves into a conversation to obscene some kind of relevancy on the back of Oz, honoring one of the greatest rock stars that ever lived. And then they talk about authenticity and stuff like that.”
“I just loved your dad,” he continued. “And I just was like, you know what? I’m just gonna do it. And I’m going to channel him. And I’m going to do his ha ha ha’s. And I’m going to do his hands. And I’m going to do his eyes. And I’m going to wear his cross. And I’m going to just f–king do it. Because what the f–k else are we going to do?”
“And what was beautiful about that night was that I couldn’t f–king sleep, so I text[ed] your old man. I text[ed] him the night before, it didn’t go through,” Yungblud recalled, pulling up his text message. “I literally just was like, ‘Tomorrow, I just want [you] to know wherever you are, I love you, and I’ll give it everything I got.”
He said he “obviously couldn’t sleep” because of the “pressure” of the performance, adding that he and the other performers in the tribute “insisted” that “everything be live.”
Ozzy passed away at 76 on July 22. Ozzy’s family announced his death in a statement reading, “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
According to the New York Times, his death certificate stated that he died from a heart attack, and noted that he suffered from coronary artery disease as well as Parkinson’s.
Ozzy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2003, but didn’t come out with it publicly until 2020, before essentially retiring from the stage. He reunited with Black Sabbath last month for what was billed as his final performance with the band; it was his first performance with the group in 20 years.
Yungblud, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Nuno Bettencourt showed their support for Ozzy at his final show in Birmingham, with Ozzy even gifting Yungblud a custom necklace before the performance.
