Sharon Osbourne has lent her support to a campaign for Birmingham Airport to change its name to Ozzy Osbourne International in tribute to the rock icon, who died in July at the age of 76.
The petition was launched last week by comedian and broadcaster Dan Hudson, who claimed Birmingham was “embarrassed” of its importance to heavy metal and adding that Ozzy represented what John Lennon is to Liverpool and George Best is to Belfast – both those city’s airports were renamed in honour of their loval heroes.
“The business case is a strong one,” he said. “The cultural case is a strong one. There just isn’t a reason not to do it.”
With the campaign gaining momentum and signatures from other 70,000 people, now Sharon Osbourne has got behind it too. “It would be amazing,” she said to the BBC. “The world loved Ozzy. It’s just a dream right now but sometimes dreams come true.”
Hudson said it was “amazing” to see Sharon backing the idea. “The campaign is growing and growing and there’s even more momentum now with Sharon on board,” he said.
Fans lined the streets of Birmingham in their thousands to pay tribute at his funeral in July, just weeks after his triumphant farewell show at the city’s Villa Park football ground. There is already a Black Sabbath Bridge and Bench in the city, which was unveiled by Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler back in 2019.
Birmingham Airport have yet to directly respond to the name-change request, saying only that it was “currently progressing an exciting homage” to the metal pioneer and “committed to honouring his legacy”.