Ozzy Osbourne: Late rock legend’s AI tribute by Rod Stewart has fans divided over the act

During the latest leg of his tour, Rod Stewart gave concertgoers a touching tribute to fallen legend Ozzy Osbourne — however it has left fans divided and seen the singer cop heavy backlash.

While performing the song “Forever Young” to the audience in Georgia on Friday, artificial intelligence videos of Ozzy Osbourne appeared behind on the big screen.

It showed Ozzy in heaven, following his sudden death two weeks ago, taking a selfie with other musical legends who had passed away.

The video showed the former Black Sabbath front man beside a number of artists including XXXTentacion, Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson, Prince, Bob Marley, Tina Turner, Kurt Cobain, Aaliyah, George Michael, Freddie Mercury, Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse.

While a touching sentiment, footage of the AI videos quickly circulated online and left fans arguing if the tribute was appropriate or not.

“Great to pay tribute, but to do it with one of these creepy and obviously inauthentic AI videos is lazy and in poor taste,” one person commented on social media in regard to AI videos.

“Some say it’s disrespectful and some say it was amazing, but my opinion is a brilliant statement of his influence on society and pop culture!”, another comment argued back about the video.

Others said that it was “most distasteful thing I’ve seen”, while on the other hand fans of the late rock star said: “Love it! Super cool!”

The discourse continued with wildly varying opinions.

“This AI stuff is getting weird. That’s a bit much,” one said.

“This is beyond disrespectful. who told him this was a good idea? These people and their families would be disgusted,” another argued against the video.

“A wild, heartfelt tribute Ozzy meets legends beyond,” a fan in favour of the tribute said.

While others took issue at the tribute for another reason, pointing out the absurdity of the “Prince of Darkness in heaven...”.