Olivia Asher is a reporter at the New Herald Tribune covering breaking news for the Digital Trends Desk. Before joining the newsroom in 2022, she covered criminal justice issues at the Orlando Plain Dealer.
July 31 , 2025
Birmingham - In an emotional and unexpected moment at the private funeral of legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was seen wiping away tears as she paid tribute to the Prince of Darkness in what many described as one of the most heartfelt eulogies of the day.
The intimate ceremony was attended by a mix of family, musicians, and political figures—an unlikely crowd brought together by the outsized legacy of the former Black Sabbath frontman. Though Osbourne had been battling health issues for years, his passing last week at age 76 still sent shockwaves through the music world and beyond.
But no one expected the Vice President, known more for policy debates than power chords, to make an appearance—let alone show such deep personal emotion.
“He was a rebel with a soul,” Harris said through tears at the podium, wearing a somber black suit with a small bat-shaped pin on her lapel. “Ozzy didn’t just push boundaries—he shattered them. And somehow, beneath the fire and fury, there was always this strange, beautiful vulnerability that made us love him even more.”
Harris reportedly first met Osbourne at a Kennedy Center Honors event in 2022, and the two struck up a surprising friendship over their shared love of civil rights history and 1970s soul music. Sources close to Harris say she often quoted lyrics from Black Sabbath's War Pigs during college debates at Howard University, using them as metaphors for justice and political resistance.
“Ozzy was chaos incarnate,” she continued during the eulogy, “but in a world that often demanded conformity, he showed us the power of being unapologetically yourself—even if that self was biting the head off a bat on stage.”
The crowd, which included Sharon Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Post Malone, and Sir Paul McCartney, gave Harris a standing ovation. Sharon later said in a brief interview, “Kamala’s words brought me to tears. Who knew the Vice President was such a softie for metal?”
Later in the service, a string quartet performed a solemn rendition of Crazy Train, followed by a moment of silence. Harris could be seen quietly mouthing the words, her eyes closed.
Though her appearance raised eyebrows among some political commentators, it was clear her presence came from a place of genuine admiration.
In the end, the funeral became less a farewell and more a celebration—a raucous, tear-streaked goodbye to a man who lived without apology, and somehow managed to unite a Vice President and a generation of headbangers under one gothic roof.
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