In the upcoming episode of Ozzy & Jacks World Detour, the Black Sabbath singer and his son visit Cuba where a guide takes them to a statue of John Lennon. Fidel Castro banned rock & roll in the country in 1962 following the missile crisis, but made an about-face four years later. Decades later in 2004, Castro honored Lennon in a speech that recognized the late Beatles rebel nature, highlighting how the United States had sought to deport him in the Seventies.
In the clip, a guide tells the Osbournes that Castro personally attended the unveiling of Lennons statue in 2000. Ozzy, who is wearing circular Lennon sunglasses, goes to inspect the monument. Thats really cool, he says. They were saying it was banned and then he became a hero. Then he becomes emotional. Id rather have seen the real thing; that fucking asshole killed him.
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Ozzy later tells his son that the statue was one of the highlights of their journeys together. When Jack asks Ozzy if he was Team John Lennon or Team Paul McCartney, his father says, Both. Lennon and McCartney for me were two of the greatest things that ever happened.
Ozzy told Rolling Stone about the Osbournes visit to Cuba shortly after they went. They got parts of a fucking U-2 plane lying around in this military thing in a park and you can just go and touch it, he said. And Im going, Fucking hell. If that was in England or America, theyd have a fucking screen that you couldnt touch this stuff. Then somebody pointed out to me that under the Castro regime, its everybodys property. Its not a government thing but its kind of weird.
He also added that people should consider visiting before the island becomes gentrified. As the embargos dropping off every week, its gonna get built up and right now is the best time to go, he says. Its like when I first went to Prague in the Czech Republic many years ago as the Russians left. It was cheap and it was funky and it was good until, you know, we all get the businesspeople in there and they fuck it all up. I had a great time in Cuba.
The full episode airs Sunday at 10 p.m. EST on History. While in the country, the Osbournes also check out Fifties cars, Cold War weaponry, Ernest Hemingways house and the presidential palace.