Bono Responds to Sharon Osbourne’s Twitter Rant: ‘What a Shocker’
Bono says he's isn't surprised that Sharon Osbourne took to Twitter for a profanity-laced rant about U2's recent iTunes album giveaway. In fact, during an interview this morning with Kevin Klein Live on Live 105-KITS in San Francisco, he says U2 expected to get some push back -- but that having the opportunity to reach half a billion people worldwide was worth the risk.
"Every songwriter just wants to get heard," said Bono. "You know, the figure of 500 million is great. That means they got a chance to download it. But the real figure is -- and I just heard this today -- that 38 million people have actually listened to the album. Apparently, one or two people didn't like it."
Osbourne called U2 "a bunch of megalomaniacs" on Monday, six days after U2 gave away 'Songs of Innocence' as part of a massive Apple product launch promotion. "You are business moguls, not musicians anymore," Osbourne said. "No wonder you have to give your mediocre music away for free, 'cause no one wants to buy it." She concluded with an all-caps signoff of "F-- YOU!" for the band, its label head and Apple.
"I can't believe she didn't take the high road," Bono countered, to huge laughs in the KITS studio. "What a shocker."
Osbourne was joined by others in complaining about the download, which automatically appeared in iTunes libraries last week. For instance, Tyler the Creator, a rap star, also tweeted, "You old f--, I don't want you on my phone."
Bono said that it's been "great to stir things up. Thank you for being interested, even if you're only interested enough to be a crank caller. Just remember this: A lot of Irish blood, sweat and tears went into your junk mail." He concedes that "U2 attracts a lot of haters, but we've got a lot of lovers too, and I think that will always drown out that other kind of noise."