Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Danny Baker condemned for joking that Ozzy Osbourne’s cocaine use caused his Parkinson’s

Osbourne revealed this week that he had been diagnosed with Parkin’s II

Adam White
Thursday 23 January 2020 11:05 GMT
Comments
Kelly Osbourne opens up about father Ozzy Osbourne's Parkinson's diagnosis

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Danny Baker has come under fire for joking that Ozzy Osbourne’s past cocaine use caused his Parkinson’s.

This week the rock veteran revealed that he had been diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s known as Parkin’s II, after suffering health complications from a bathroom fall last year.

On Twitter, Baker joked: “Not to be unsympathetic to a genuine hero but when Ozzie Osbourne [sic] says his ‘mild Parkinson’s’ is down to a fall he once had I’m thinking it must have been when he fell into a vat full of cocaine in 72 and didn’t get out again for 35 years.”

Baker’s joke drew some laughs, but others argued that it was insensitive.

“Not funny, just nasty and ill-informed,” one tweet read.

Another Twitter user wrote: “So wrong. Parkinson’s is not a coke fuelled consequence. It’s an indiscriminate pig of a disease that can blight the lives of anyone.”

“FFS how much lower can you get?” asked another. “Watch someone you love dying of Parkinson’s then see how funny you find it.”

Speaking on Good Morning America this week, Osbourne said his diagnosis has been “terribly challenging,” adding that he had to have neck surgery as a result.

Sharon Osbourne, sat alongside her husband in the interview, added: “There’s so many different types of Parkinson’s. It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body.”

Osbourne has been open about his past cocaine use, but now lives a clean lifestyle. “I have come to think that if right now you had a gun, a bag of cocaine and a gallon of booze and you said ‘Take your pick’, I’d pick up the gun,” he said in 2018. “It’s not worth it.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in