Ozzy Osbourne doesn't know what Brexit is and 'doesn't really read newspapers'

The Birmingham native, who is now based in Los Angeles, says he doesn't follow the news

Clémence Michallon

New York

Monday 26 November 2018 16:24

Ozzy Osbourne announces his "No More Tours II" during a press conference at his Los Angeles Home on 6 February, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Live Nation)

While thousands of people are having impassioned arguments about Brexit, some freely admit they haven’t completely caught up with the topic – such as Ozzy Osbourne.

The heavy metal icon told The Big Issue he’s at a loss when others ask him about the UK's impending withdrawal from the European Union.

"People keep going on at me about that – is it a big deal over there? What will happen with it? Are people voting in or out, what’s going on?" Osbourne said.

The Birmingham native now lives in Los Angeles, where he doesn't follow current affairs closely.

"I don’t read the newspapers and I don’t really talk politics because I don’t really know," he added.

“I don’t really understand Brexit."

EU leaders approved Theresa May's Brexit deal on Sunday during a special summit in Brussels.

The UK parliament is now set to vote on the deal in early December.

While the former Black Sabbath frontman made no mystery of his lack of knowledge when it comes to Brexit, his wife Sharon Osbourne has previously expressed her support for the Leave campaign.

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Show all 14

1/14Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Stoke

A toy tiger, a long way from its natural habitat, no longer loved, no longer cuddled, caught in wires, lost within a maze of alleyways and red-brick terraces

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Coventry

The Multi-Faith Peace Walk visits a gurdwara. The white man in the front row wears a cross, displaying allegiance to Christianity. His hat is a public sign of loyalty to Coventry City FC. There is no disrespect. On the contrary, this is an event that encourages multi-faith interaction, and his sincerity and concentration, I think, show that it’s working

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Birmingham

Two outlines of man in British society, 100 years apart. Both carry a heavy load, both with a purpose, going somewhere, under orders, no doubt. But they’re split by the years between them, looking at life from different ends of the century, with different outlooks, facing different futures and fates

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Hanley

There are small shops like this all over modern Britain. They are adorned with flags of the countries whose products you may find inside. They have names like “International”, “European”, “Baltic”, “Balkan”, “Eastern”, etc. “Unity Store” is exceptional, however, because it makes a political statement about the desirable relationship between the nationalities and their relationship to Britain

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Wolverhampton

The blind leading the blind, or friends leaving the pub together, walking and talking together, going to the bus stop and heading home, not in need of a sighted leader

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Worcester

A man sleeps in a pub, preserving body heat, his crossword incomplete and Guinness unfinished. There’s absence beside; a light emptiness that exaggerates the weight of his slumber

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Coventry

Warriors in the heat of a Pokémon battle, war-weary, yet glued to the action, fighting on. Reality is up for grabs in this scene, fragmented across three planes: the street, the battle, and the airbrushed projections of femininity

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Worcester

A crowd looks on as a young man contemplates suicide, standing atop a building in the town centre. A fireman eventually persuades him not to jump, and he is carried down to earth by the mechanical arm of a fire engine

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Birmingham

Jehovah’s Witnesses try to convert people outside Moor Street station. They compete for attention with a sign promising financial gain. There’s a choice here, between the world of faith and the heady skylines of Birmingham and London, where what’s in your pocket matters most

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Worcester

A church on the high street undergoes construction. Scaffolding is hidden by boards displaying messages about God and Christianity. Coupled with a secular, national symbol, the text takes on another meaning, a commentary on the nation itself as a broad church, as shelter, as a place of worship

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Coventry

Skeletons behind curtains in a spiritualist church. They are there for Halloween, but it looks like a joke about the role of the dead in the church, who are kept close, communicating with terrestrial beings through the energy that binds all things

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Warwick

Red poppies made from plastic bottle bottoms. Recycling in the service of memorialisation. The act of remembrance blurs with the ethics of 21st century environmentalism

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Coventry

A tent pitched in the middle of the city, next to the pavement, cramped in a corner. The inhabitants’ towel hangs out to dry, below a cruel, unintentional, chance commentary on the transitory, temporary, and thoroughly unhomely settlement. A boy moves in the light, playing or hiding or turning away

Richard Morgan/The Independent

Britain before Brexit: West Midlands

Warwick

An early morning view of Warwick castle, still black, just reappearing, yet the flag shines as if it had done so the whole night through, as if it had always been this way; a beacon of light in a world of darkness

Richard Morgan/The Independent

"I go back to England every four to six months and it’s becoming like Hong Kong – so overpopulated, so congested," the music manager and TV host told The Sunday Times in 2016.

"There are too many people in a tiny country. There are classrooms of 40 kids, the NHS is in the toilet, the education system is in the toilet.

✕

'This is the only deal on the table' new Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay tells Sky News

"I say take care of your own people first. I don’t have anything against any religion or any person, but the country is overloaded."

In that same interview, Osbourne added that she didn't know what she would do if she were bringing up a family in the UK and "couldn't afford a private school".

✕

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Join our new commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies