The US comedy rock band Green Jellÿ have fired one of their members for posting a meme about Ozzy Osbourne following the metal singer’s death.
The band, who were formed in 1981 and are best known for their songs “Three Little Pigs” and “The Bear Song”, confirmed that they had fired their bassist Michael “Fr33to F33t” Snyder for the social media post.
Shortly after Osbourne’s death on 22 July, Green Jellÿ posted a Photoshopped image of the Black Sabbath frontman holding a sign that read “one day sober” – clearly making light of the singer’s history of substance addiction.
The act, formerly known as Green Jello, quickly deleted the post, with the group’s founder, Bill Manspeaker, blaming Snyder for the “distasteful” post.
In a comment that has since been removed, Manspeaker wrote: “He [Snyder] posted an extremely rude video about Ozzy dying that I found highly offensive and I immediately took it down.”
Snyder claimed that he had been axed from the band because he had “dared to question William Manspeaker”.
“I’ve been requested to stop the fun and laughter,” he said. “It’s always been his band, which I respect. I’ll honour his request, and we’ll all have the fun without him, here.”
He also offered an apology to the Osbourne family, stating: “I don’t know if they’ll ever see this, but I’m truly sorry if I offended any of you. We’ve done lots of dark humour on the Green Jellÿ page, and I never meant to hurt anyone. I would apologise to anyone who was seriously offended.”
Snyder’s departure from Green Jellÿ occurred shortly after the band announced they were headlining the Psycho Sideshow tour in September, which also features 96 Bitter Beings, The Convalescence, The Bunny the Bear and Ignominious.
The news comes after another controversial tribute to Osbourne. Rod Stewart has included an AI-generated video at his recent concerts in the US that shows the metal star taking selfies in heaven with other dead musicians.
Footage of the video has since gone viral, with many fans branding it “disrespectful” to the artists included. Rod Stewart’s representatives have been contacted for comment.
Osbourne, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, died at the age of 76 in July. Since his death, heartfelt tributes have been pouring in from around the globe from friends and fans.
Thousands visited the Black Sabbath Bench in his home city of Birmingham to lay bouquets and leave balloons, cards and candles.
The Osbourne family visited the bench in Broad Street on Wednesday (30 July) to lay their own flowers ahead of the heavy metal legend’s private funeral.
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