Sharon Osbourne – widow of the Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne – has caused much consternation by announcing that she will be attending the far-right Unite the Kingdom march in London on 16 May, led by Tommy Robinson.
On 14 April, in a comment posted on a spittle-flecked rallying cry for the march from Robinson, promoted on Instagram by the far-right “Gauci Reports” account, Osbourne stated tersely: “See you at the march”.
Osbourne – who reportedly divides her time between Los Angeles and her mansion (with a landed estate) in Buckinghamshire – swiftly found herself dropped from her role as a celebrity ambassador for the homelessness campaign Centrepoint.
Regarding Unite the Kingdom, the charity stated: “This sort of event does not align with our values.” It added that “Centrepoint has a proud history of supporting young people whatever their background, ethnicity or religion.”
Signs of radicalisation
While there has been some surprise at Osbourne’s turn towards far-right politics, there had already been worrying signs of radicalisation on her part.
As long ago as 2021, she was forced to leave US television programme The Talk after an on-air row with her black co-host, Sheryl Underwood, who accused Osbourne of giving “validation” to “racist” views.
More recently, in January this year, Osbourne responded to an Instagram post by far-right activist Richard Donaldson about reports that a convicted terrorist would be standing for the council in Birmingham (her husband’s home city) at this May’s elections.
She posted: “This has nothing to do with racism. I think I’m gonna move to Birmingham and put my name down for the ballot to be on the council.”
Most damningly, also in January this year, in response to a video of a far-right anthem called “This is England” on Instagram, Osbourne posted “Love love this song”.
The video appeared on the account of “The Node Project”, a shadowy outfit which purports to be a “collective” of creatives.
In recent months, whoever is behind this has pumped out a steady stream of slickly cinematic AI-generated videos across a slew of social-media platforms.
Hard-line agenda
These videos, and accompanying rap songs, promote a hard-line anti-migrant and Christian nationalist agenda – a form of AI “slopaganda”.
This content is mostly fronted by “Danny Bones”, an AI-generated avatar, with the persona of a London-accented skinhead.
In March, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed that “The Node Project” had been paid by Advance UK to produce material for the party – including a campaign video for the Gorton and Denton by-election.
The identity of the individual(s) behind “The Node Project” / “Danny Bones” is a closely guarded secret.
Lives close by
However, an interesting clue is that the first person to donate to an online fundraising account for the Project was someone called Josh Jim Bloor (born in April 1999). He turns out to work as an electrician at Pinewood film and TV studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire; and he has uploaded his own music tracks to online platforms.
Bloor is a native of Buckinghamshire. He is from Chalfont St Peter and he now lives nearby, in Beaconsfield. Oddly – although perhaps coincidentally – Sharon Osbourne’s mansion, Welders House (in whose grounds Ozzy is buried), is in precisely this neck of the woods.
Sharon Osbourne has spoken in the past of her pride in her Jewish roots, saying that Judaism “is the only religion I have and the only one I’m comfortable with”.
Before she pursues her current political trajectory any further, she should perhaps reflect on the increasingly unsavoury company that she is keeping – and where their ideas can lead.
