'With All Due Respect' - David Draiman Defends Yungblud's Ozzy Tribute at 2025 MTV VMAs

Disturbed frontman David Draiman has come to the defense of Yungblud over criticism the musician has received since his appearance as part of the Ozzy Osbourne tribute at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards.

In new commentary shared via his X account, Draiman addresses the criticism that Yungblud was a "poseur," suggesting that he "isn't POSITIONING himself as ANYTHING." He also shared his belief that the singer was placed in unenviable position of trying to please everyone in what would be a heavily scrutinized performance.

The Ozzy tribute at the MTV VMAs featured Yungblud performing alongside Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and Ozzy keyboardist Adam Wakeman.

What Did David Draiman Say About Criticism of Yungblud + His MTV VMAs Ozzy Tribute Performance?

In his posting, Draiman starts off, Guys… With all due respect.@yungblud isn’t POSITIONING himself as ANYTHING."

He adds, "He’s a talented young artist who was tasked/asked to do an impossible job. To please everyone while tributing his idol @OzzyOsbourne. He did great. Leave him be."

Draiman was part of the Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath tribute lineup for the Back to the Beginning show along with Yungblud.

Who Was Critical of Yungblud's Performance at the 2025 MTV VMAs?

While there was other criticism on social media concerning the Ozzy Osbourne tribute at the MTV VMAs, the comments that gained the most traction in the media came from The Darkness guitarist Dan Hawkins, who shared a reel on Instagram in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance.

In the clip, he noted, "Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll. Cynical, nauseating and more importantly; shit. Makes me sick how people jump on this shit to further their own careers."

Not long after Dan Hawkins comments about Yungblud's performance widely circulated, his brother, The Darkness vocalist Justin Hawkins, added more context to the comments in an episode of his Justin Hawkins Rides Again YouTube channel.

The vocalist added that the critique of Yungblud not only includes the performance but extends to how he was presenting himself on the red carpet ahead of time.

“I feel like what irks musicians of a certain age is the fact that Yungblud seems to have positioned himself as a natural heir to the Ozzy legacy, having nothing to do with the really important stuff.

“All of this posturing is Jim Morrison meets the bloke from Stone Temple Pilots meets everybody else who’s ever owned a pair of leather trousers. It’s 101 School of Rock stuff, you know? It’s the latest in a long line of — I’m sorry to say it — poseurs… For seven minutes, the world is looking at rock and this is what we’ve given them.”

“It’s like you’ve watched a movie about rock and metal, it’s like what a male stripper would do,” Hawkins said of Yungblud’s headbanging onstage. “It doesn’t ring authentic… It’s rock n’ roll, but not as we know it. It kind of has this Disney veneer over the top of it, like it’s rock n’ roll seen through an Instagram filter of some sort.”

Hawkins concluded, “I hope some of what I’ve said today can shed light on what musicians of a certain age find irksome about a performance like that. I think it’s just about integrity, authenticity and seeing that something that has been outsider’s music since Ozzy invented it to be sort of front and centre like that and be whitewashed like that in that slightly galling television way. It’s hard to watch when you’ve spent your life playing this stuff."

The Darkness' Justin Hawkins Addresses Yungblud's Ozzy Osbourne VMAs Tribute

Ozzy Osbourne's History With Yungblud

Though generations apart in age, Ozzy Osbourne had a close friendship with Yungblud, who had initially befriended the Prince of Darkness' daughter Kelly. The singer and his wife Sharon previously guest starred in Yungblud's video for "The Funeral." In addition, both Sharon and Ozzy's daughter Kelly have publicly spoken about Yungblud sharing many of the same traits of Ozzy in the past.

Realizing he was perhaps an odd choice to be part of the Back to the Beginning lineup considering the legends in attendance, Yungblud accepted the challenge to pay homage to the musician that had come to mean so much to him.

"I knew it was going to be a tough audience for me because it was all metalheads and a lot of people did not think I had the right to be there," the 27-year-old rocker, born Dominic Richard Harrison, told NME. "Brian May sent me a message after the gig that said, 'The silence from those people was deafening.' I think it's finally clicking for a lot of non-believers."

READ MORE: The Gift Yungblud Gave Ozzy Osbourne at the Back to the Beginning Show

Yungblud belted the ballad "Changes" and was widely regarded as one of the highlights of the day. "I wanted it," he said. "Tom Morello put the whole thing together and I said, 'Give me the ballad.' He wasn't so sure but I told him, 'Trust me, I'll bring the house down.'"

“As soon as I got on stage, I forgot about everything else," he said. "I was me saying thank you to my fucking hero. Backstage there were artists that collectively have probably sold a billion records and Black Sabbath started it for all of us. I wasn't nervous though, I was exactly where I needed to be."

Speaking to the relationship, Yungblud shared, "We've become so close and I love him. His music has given me an outlet and he's given me so much advice. When it felt like people didn't understand me, I cried down the phone to him. He's always told me, 'People will not get you, so do not deviate, keep fighting and keep pushing.' Ozzy isn't just my hero, he's my family."