Friend 'sobbing in the kitchen' over Ozzy Osborne

[lronWoman]

I'm not generally a mean spirited person but I just can't take this seriously!

My friend has never been a Black Sabbath fan and I've never heard her mention Ozzy once in the 20 years I've known her. However, her and her sister are apparently 'beside themselves with grief' over his death.

I just don't understand this type of performative grief over A list celebrities that people have never met. It's sad and I get that it kind of marks the end of an era, but the guy lived to a ripe old age in the lap of luxury and was one of the most celebrated rock stars the world has ever known. It's not like a present day star has suddenly been cut down in their prime and will no longer be releasing new albums. They'd already released all their famous stuff before we were born.

She wasn't sobbing in the kitchen when an old mutual workmate died unexpectedly in his late 30s a fortnight ago. Guy wasn't a close friend of ours but we were friendly. Used to go to the pub as a group and he helped us move house, refusing to accept a penny for it. Really nice bloke! We hadn't seen him in close to a decade but both felt sad about it for a few days. But no sobbing in the kitchen!

Latest comment is "he's up there at the bar with gramps". I'm finding it hard not to make an inappropriate joke tbh!

Nope, goes back way, way further than that. Try the death of John Lennon. The mass outpouring of grief internationally. In America, the UK, Australia, etc etc. Every year at the anniversary of his gunning down there are pilgrimages to the Dakota building (where Chapman shot him), to Strawberry Fields in Central Park, even in Liverpool in the UK. The fuss over Diana's death wasn't even 200th percent anywhere near Lennon.

Yes, George Michael and, more recently, Steve Wright. Both represent my teenage years and were important to the music industry in different ways. End of an era.

So, was that you then?!

Performative grief. Does she know how fucking cruel he was to animals?

I think you’ve got it spot on. . This is exactly what happens. X

🤣 Jesus wept. Isn't this all a symptom of main character that seems to be so widespread? I'm so happy to not have social media🙄

I was abroad at the time and when the funeral took place so avoided the whole pantomime.

Representing the South East here re the Diana sobbing. Nope. None was seen. I think people got on the train to London and held it all in until they could sob amongst kindred souls.

I have posted on here before that one of my colleagues called in sick when Michael Jackson died. True story.

No matter how unfathomablle it may be, she's having an emotional reaction to his death for some reason. if she's still at others tomorrow then start becoming concerned and find out what's up or why she's reacted like this by talking to her.

You reaction to post about her reaction on an open public board, so lots of people would mock her, is odd behaviour too. Might be worth figuring out what drove you to do that to someone you call a friend.

I've had too many tragedies in the past I don't tend to cry over celebrities, but I do get it. It can trigger memories and a certain nostalgia. I've seen it compared to homesickness for a place and time we can't revisit.

Theo from The Cosby Show died the day before Ozzy and I must admit I felt a bit sad, not only that his death was tragic but how I watched the show with a friend who also died young, so it was her I was remembering and missing IYKWIM and our youth, feelings of growing up and all that it entailed and not necessarily the death of Jamal Warner.

I felt the same when Leonard Cohen went.

I think I would have burst out laughing at the ‘up at the bar with gramps’ comment. I think I would have said ‘Wait, what? Did your grandfather know Ozzy Osbourne then?’

So did I.

I’ll be inconsolable when David Attenborough goes 😢

I was 16, in England and completely embarrassed by the whoke performance. What we saw on TV was absolutely ridiculous, however people were hardly wailing in our suburban streets. It was all whipped up by the media, IMO. The film Evita had come out fairly recently and it reminded me of that. We should have had Oh What a Circus ringing out instead of that Candle in the Wind remake shite.

I can imagine being shocked at a celebrity's death, I remember being shocked by Michael Jackson's dying, but crying? And over a man who lived far longer than he should had done considering what he put his body through? Nah.

Could it be 'gramps' your friend is actually grieving for, and Ozzy's death has brought her feelings to the surface?

Wait until she sees some of the AI images going round of Ozzy being reunited with Lemmy/Kurt Cobain, etc at the Pearly Gates 🫣

Very dramatic

I'll look out for the "I'm devastated that Ozzie died, I felt closer to him than my own father" thread.

Silly woman.

I find it odd too. But I do feel that sometimes celebrity deaths open old wounds so they release grief that they are storing for someone else (perhaps?)
I remember the whole princess di thing and literally shuddering at the amount of flowers and crying by strangers

This is it. I wasn't sobbing when David Bowie died but he was a significant part of my teens and I was sad for that reason.

By the way, I don't think 76 is a ripe old age as per the OP, not these days. I'm 70 and not expecting to pop my clogs any time soon. Ozzy lived a rock'n"roll lifestyle which affected his health and also had Parkinsons. He became wealthy but grew up in a council tower block and never forgot that.

My dad cried when Elvis died. My mum remembers walking in from work and finding him bawling his eyes out on the sofa, she thought something major in the family had happened and when he told her Elvis had died her reaction was really is that all.

Perhaps you're right. I might offer my condolences and enquire if there's anything I can do to help her and her family through this difficult time.

My DH told me the news about Ozzy. He started off with a “Guess which celebrity has died?” My immediate response was “It had better not be David Attenborough”. I’m dreading that happening.

I am eye rolling so hard at the posters desperately reaching to justify this silly woman's shallow, performative grief 🙄
I'd just ignore her OP, but I would always think less of her for this nonsense. Or pehaps add a pass-agg 'thoughts and prayers' comment to her post