British actor, comedian, and podcaster Russell Brand mourned the death of rock icon Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary frontman of Black Sabbath. On July 25, 2025, Brand took to X to share a clip from the latest episode of his Stay Free with Russell Brand podcast, where he reflected on what he “liked” about the Prince of Darkness."This is why I like Ozzy Osbourne — he’s snorting up that line of ants. That’s bada*s! … I don’t even like ants down the pants. I don’t like ants on the ankles. (And he had) ants in the nasal cavity, ants in the sinuses. Ozzy! We barely knew you with a sinus full of fire ants. You showed us how to party. RIP, Ozzy Osbourne," Brand said.In the podcast clip, Brand referenced one of Osbourne's infamous incidents involving ants.For context, it had long been rumored that Osbourne once snorted a line of live ants off the ground during a tour with Mötley Crüe in the 1980s. Initially dismissed as exaggerated rock folklore, the story was later confirmed by Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee.During an appearance on This Past Weekend with Theo Von on August 6, 2024, Lee explained the intense culture of one-upmanship that defined rock tours at the time. He explained how the bands were constantly trying to outdo each other in shock value and excess.Lee added that Osbourne, heavily intoxicated, noticed a trail of ants heading toward a forgotten popsicle. He then chose to snort them off the ground, fully committing to the wild stunt."Ozzy’s wasted. He sees there’s a little trail of ants going all the way to this kid’s popsicle that he left on the ground. And Ozzy looks down and f**king just snorts the line of ants going to the popsicle," Lee said.Brand’s tribute to Osborne, referencing the "sinus full of fire ants" incident, served both as a salute to the rock icon’s outrageous antics and a celebration of his unfiltered legacy.Ozzy Osbourne’s wildest moments at a glanceOzzy Osbourne’s wildest moments (Image via Getty)Ozzy Osbourne has carved out a legacy as much through his outrageous antics as through his music. As reported by The Daily Mail on July 23, 2025, one of the most infamous moments in Osbourne’s career occurred during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa, in January 1982.During this event, a fan inexplicably hurled a bat onto the stage. Believing it to be a rubber toy, Osbourne picked it up and bit its head off. To his horror, he soon realized that it was a live animal. Blood filled his mouth as the crowd looked on in stunned disbelief. After the show, Osbourne was rushed to the hospital for a rabies shot.As per Daily Mail, he later reflected on the bizarre moment, saying:"For anyone out there who thinks it’s ‘cool’… and if you want to be a complete d**k, try it."Though the incident was initially a gruesome accident, it eventually became a defining symbol of his career. Ozzy Osbourne embraced it so fully that he later sold bat toys with detachable heads, capitalizing on the notoriety.But the bat episode wasn’t his only jaw-dropping encounter with animals.A year earlier, in 1981, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a dove during a meeting with CBS Records executives. He had brought live doves, intending to release them as a peaceful gesture, but, reportedly frustrated with an executive, impulsively bit into one instead and spat the head on the table.Reflecting on the chaotic moment in his 2009 autobiography, I Am Ozzy, he recalled:"Then I did it again with the next dove… That’s when they threw me out. They said I’d never work for CBS again."While Osbourne eventually got sober in 2013, his early years were marked by rampant drug use and wild experimentation.In a Classic Rock interview published on September 20, 2022, Ozzy Osbourne described how his psychedelic experiences reached a surreal peak in the 1970s. One LSD trip ended with him wandering into a field, where he held a full-blown conversation with a horse until the animal “told” him to leave.Recalling the bizarre turning point, he said:"I used to swallow handfuls of tabs at a time. The end of it came when we got back to England… I took 10 tabs of acid then went for a walk in a field. I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour. In the end the horse turned round and told me to f**k off. That was it for me."Despite a career marked by wild antics, Ozzy Osbourne remained a defining force in the world of heavy metal. He passed away on July 22, 2025, at the age of 76. Though he had faced serious health challenges in recent years, including a public battle with Parkinson’s disease, his family chose not to disclose the official cause of death.