Ozzy Osbourne, Trent Reznor, Beastie Boys Cancel SXSW Appearances Due To Coronavirus Threat
Ozzy Osbourne, Trent Reznor, and Beastie Boys are among the latest to cancel their appearances at SXSW this year due to the coronavirus threat. All three were going to be there as part of the film portion of the festival.
Osbourne was scheduled to appear for the debut of the documentary Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne, which will air on A&E this summer. He was also supposed to sit down in conversation with his son Jack and comedian/radio personality Jim Norton. (Osbourne also recently cancelled the 2020 North American tour in support of his latest album, Ordinary Man, due to his Parkinson’s diagnosis.)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross tweeted earlier today from the Nine Inch Nails account that they would not be giving a planned Watchmen keynote because WarnerMedia, the company that owns HBO, pulled out of the festival.
And Apple, who were going to premiere the Spike Jonze-directed Beastie Boys Story at SXSW, also cancelled.
Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and numerous other technology companies pulled out of the Austin-based event earlier this week. SXSW is scheduled to take place from 3/12-3/22. Their last statement about coronavirus was on Monday (3/2), which said that they were proceeding with the festival after conferring with Austin Public Health officials.
For the most up-to-date information about coronavirus, visit the CDC website.