Ozzy Osbourne's Ant-Snorting Spree: Tommy Lee Confirms Wild "Dirt" Story
Tommy Lee, drummer for legendary rock band Mötley Crüe, has corroborated a debauched story from the band's 2019 biopic "The Dirt" about Ozzy Osbourne's alleged ant-snorting and self-urination antics.
During an appearance on the "This Past Weekend With Theo Von" podcast, Lee confirmed the scene depicting a drunken Osbourne, during a joint tour with Mötley Crüe in 1984, snorting a line of ants and then drinking his own urine.
"Full-on true," Lee stated. "I know people ask that all the time. They're, like, 'Dude, really?' I'm, like, abso-fucking-lutely. You can't make that shit up."
Lee explained that the incident took place at a Lakeland, Florida hotel pool after an overnight bus ride where the band members had indulged in copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. He recalled how a wasted Osbourne, noticing a trail of ants leading to a discarded popsicle, decided to snort the line of insects, prompting bassist Nikki Sixx to pull down his trousers and urinate on the ground in a bid to out-gross Osbourne. However, before Sixx could lick up his own urine, Osbourne beat him to it, prompting the rest of the band to declare him the winner of the impromptu gross-out contest.
The drummer recounted that the evening escalated further with Osbourne's tour manager handing Lee the responsibility of getting the inebriated singer back to his hotel room. He recounted a harrowing elevator ride, where Osbourne defecated, painting the walls of his hotel room with his own faeces.
Lee's confirmation of the story adds further fuel to the ongoing debate about the validity of the events depicted in "The Dirt". In October 2022, Osbourne's wife Sharon, during their podcast "The Osbournes," addressed the ant-snorting incident, expressing her displeasure with the depiction of the event in the biopic. Ozzy, however, confirmed that he did indeed snort the line of ants.
In 2019, Jake E. Lee, Osbourne's guitarist during the 1984 tour, disputed the ant-snorting story, claiming it was a spider, not ants, that Osbourne snorted. Lee, however, corroborated the urine incident, describing the chaotic scene where Osbourne and Sixx engaged in a public urination contest, with Osbourne ultimately consuming his own urine.
While the exact details of the events remain contested, it is clear that the 1984 tour was a wild and debauched period for both Osbourne and Mötley Crüe. The story, as recounted by Lee and other band members, serves as a testament to the rock and roll excesses of the era.
