On July 22, 2025, reports surfaced claiming that Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne had died. The claim was true.
According to multiple reputable news sources, the heavy metal legend died at age 76. A statement from his family to the BBC said:
It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.
Multiple news outlets published full obituaries detailing Osbourne's life, including NBC News and CBS News.
Soon after reports of Osbourne's death started circulating on social media, Snopes readers flooded our website to determine whether they were real or a hoax.
False death announcements are a common form of internet junk news often designed to convince gullible readers to fall for clickbait or phishing scams. (Here's a deeper look into the misinformation trend, and here's a running list of celebrities that have been targets of it.)