KELLY OSBOURNE Slams JOHN LYDON Over OZZY Rant

According to The Pulse Of Radio, SEX PISTOLS frontman John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, slammed Ozzy Osbourne in an interview with Ozzy's hometown newspaper, Birmingham, England's Sunday Mercury. It's not clear what set off Lydon's rant, which began when he referred to BLACK SABBATH's 1970 song "Paranoid" as "one of the world's greatest ever singles" before adding, "But since then, the rumors of biting pigeon heads really, really haven't impressed me. Ozzy now acting like a senile delinquent is equally unimpressive. The sly innuendo of promoting drug abuse and catatonic stupidity offends me."

Lydon continued, "I'm not one for banning drugs. Quite the opposite. But I understand how to use them, and they don't use me. Ozzy is clearly a victim, and selling that loser lifestyle shit to other people equally victimizes them."

The singer also said, "Ozzy's a working-class man, like me, yet he allows that to happen. By acting like he does all the time, he implies that we're all stupid, the working classes. But we're not, you know. We're not! We're the proper Britain, us lot."

While Ozzy is clean and sober now, his appearance on the MTV reality show "The Osbournes" several years ago often gave the impression that he was drug-addled and incoherent.

Lydon, who himself has done reality shows in England, is promoting a new book called "Mr. Rotten's Scrap Book", while Ozzy has been touring behind his latest album, "Scream".

In response to Lydon's remarks, Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly wrote in her weekly column for Britain's Closer magazine, "Last week, John Lydon accused my dad of 'acting like a senile delinquent' and 'promoting drug abuse.' People only say things like this when they want attention, and guess what? He has a book to promote!

"The truth is, I don't think he's ever met my father so clearly he doesn't know that he hasn't done drugs in years. I feel that from one artist to another, there should be some form of mutual respect, and I also think it's sad when you resort to talking shit about someone else in order to get yourself press.

"Stop being such a bitter old queen, John! You're better than that."