LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) Ozzy Osbourne introduced an adorably cute, plush toy bat with a detachable head yesterday, 37 years to the day after he bit the head off a real counterpart.
On Jan. 20, 1982, Osbourne was playing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, when a 17-year-old Mark Neal tossed a very dead, possibly rancid bat onstage after concealing the remains in his coat. Osbourne has said he thought it was a rubber bat and chomped on it.
“It really freaked me out,” Neal told the Des Moines Register in 1982. “I won’t get in any trouble for admitting this, will I?”
The incident led to Osbourne getting rushed to Broadlawns Medical Center for rabies shots. It also led to facility management “to prohibit concert performers from using, presenting or in any way making live animals a part of a program at Vets without the consent of management.”
Osbourne has had to field questions about the bat for the rest of his life. “And then they’ll dig me up and ask me again!” he said in 2001.
The Ozzy Osbourne Plush Bat is 12″ tall, with a velcro detachable head. It is also already sold out and will begin shipping in March.
Today marks the 37th Anniversary since I bit a head off a f*cking bat! Celebrate with this commemorative plush with detachable head.https://t.co/Of23jCDtaa pic.twitter.com/U8ZkmOYOey
— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) January 20, 2019
h/t CoS
