Estranged Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has offered a strong rebuttal to Ozzy Osbourne's recent professions of sadness regarding Ward's absence from what's being billed as the band's final tour.

As previously reported, Osbourne insisted he's "sad that Bill never came through" for this last round of Sabbath dates. "Every time I reach out to Bill, I get yelled at for something," he added. "If something can be worked out [for the last show], great." Ward, however, disputes Osbourne's version of events, and has laid out his own point of view in a strongly worded Facebook post.

Insisting that Osbourne hadn't "reached out" to him once since 2012, Ward retorted, "Ozzy needs to look to those who stopped me from coming through. The contract was impossible to sign; the group rhetoric of 2012, 2013 and throughout, was fault-finding, condemning and full of dishonest evaluations of me as a person, including my so-called health issues. Had I signed the contract, I suspect I wouldn't have been labeled as having poor health or having all the other judgmental character references."

As for that final show? Ward told fans he'd tried finding a way back into the group last year, but was rejected — and he isn't interested in making a one-off appearance at the last gig anyway.

"To toss around ideas that I might play the Birmingham shows is both emotionally heartbreaking for me and spiteful," he continued. "I think the Sabbath fans who have loved the original band have gone through enough in terms of disappointment and sadness. For me to play Birmingham only, would, I feel, be discriminating and elitist towards our other fans all over the world."

Reiterating that none of this was what he wanted, Ward imagined that any of his fans might have reacted the same way if presented with a contract that "undermined and devalued" them. "My absence at the current shows and the future Birmingham shows reflects an undeniable and unseen misadventure that my accusers won't bear," he concluded. "It's called selfishness and self-centeredness; dishonesty and disloyalty. These are the culprits of Sabbath's original lineup's demise."

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