The moment Post Malone began singing “War Pigs,” the Grammys shifted. Celebration drained from the room. Noise fell away. Standing beside him were Slash, Chad Smith, and Ozzy Osbourne’s longtime collaborators — not posing, not performing, but bearing witness. This didn’t feel like a tribute slot. It felt like a reckoning. As the song unfolded, cameras caught Sharon, Kelly, and Jack Osbourne in the crowd — overwhelmed, wiping tears, holding each other through the weight of it. No forced smiles. No polite applause. Just grief moving through the room in real time. The performance didn’t try to soften the loss. It honored it. Loud. Uncomfortable. Honest. And then came the detail that changed everything. Why “War Pigs”? Why that song, that message, that moment? The answer reframes the entire tribute — and Ozzy’s legacy itself.

Post Malone led an all-star tribute to Ozzy Osbourne during the 2026 Grammy Awards, taking the stage alongside Watt, Slash, Duff McKagan and Chad Smith during the In Memoriam montage

Malone performed a rendition of “War Pigs” with Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. Osbourne’s widow, Sharon Osbourne, and their children Kelly and Jack watched from the audience in tears as Malone sang the iconic anti-war protest song by Black Sabbath. The track is the opening song from the band’s second studio album, “Paranoid,” released in 1970.

All of the musicians who appeared during the tribute had previously collaborated with Osbourne. Post Malone recorded duets with the Black Sabbath frontman on the songs “Take What You Want” and “It’s a Raid,” while Watt served as executive producer on Osbourne’s final two albums, 2020’s “Ordinary Man” and 2022’s “Patient Number 9.” Slash featured Osbourne on the 2010 track “Crucify the Dead,” and McKagan and Smith contributed to his last records.

Osbourne died in July 2025 at age 76 after a yearslong struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He had performed just weeks earlier at what was billed as Black Sabbath’s final concert, a festival titled “Back to the Beginning” in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England. The event featured a five-song solo set and four-song Sabbath set, as well as tributes from Slayer, Tool, Billy Corgan, Tom Morello, Sammy Hagar and others.

The Grammys tribute to Osbourne follows a separate all-star tribute that took place at the MTV Video Music Awards in September. During that performance, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler joined forces with British singer Yungblud for a three-song set that included covers of “Crazy Train,” the 1972 ballad “Changes” and the closer “Mama I’m Coming Home.”