Ozzy Osbourne forbids Trump from using his music

British rocker joins a growing list of musical complainants

Ozzy Osbourne performs with Black Sabbath at the du Arena in Abu Dhabi. Lee Hoagland / The National

Ozzy Osbourne is the latest musician to join an ever-growing list of artists who have taken action to prevent US president Donald Trump and his campaign team from using their music in his promotional material.

The latest legal action came after Trump posted a bizarre Tweet mocking US news channel MSNBC over technical problems that occurred while it was hosting a debate with Democratic primary contenders on Thursday night, featuring Osbourne's 1980 hit Crazy Train as its soundtrack.

Former Black Sabbath singer Osbourne and his wife and manager Sharon called out the president's unauthorized use of the track, telling Rolling Stone magazine:"Based on this morning's unauthorized use of Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train, we are sending notice to the Trump campaign (or any other campaigns) that they are forbidden from using any of Ozzy Osbourne's music in political ads or in any political campaigns. Ozzy's music cannot be used for any means without approvals."

This isn't the first time the president has fallen foul of copyright owners over unauthorised use of music in his campaign materials. Most recently, in April, Warner Bros took legal action against Trump over his appropriation of Why Do We Fall?, an instrumental track taken from the soundtrack to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.

"The use of Warner Bros.' score from The Dark Knight Rises in the campaign video was unauthorized," Warner Bros. said in a statement. "We are working through the appropriate legal channels to have it removed."

Prior to that, Trump’s roll call of legal challengers reads like an A-Z of the rock’n’roll hall of fame. Among those who have so far taken action to prevent the divisive US president from using their music are Aerosmith, Neil Young, Adele, REM, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna and Guns’n’Roses.

The Osbournes helpfully went on to suggest Trump uses the music of artists who support him in future campaigns, so we’ll await that eagerly anticipated Ted Nugent/Kanye West collaboration with glee.