Osbournes Split: Actual Infidelity or Fight for Relevancy?

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are in the news. That's nothing unusual, they've been there before, back when they headlined the reality-series THE OSBOURNES over a decade ago. After the series, Sharon went on to THE TALK, Kelly went on to have a spot at E! Entertainment, and Jack became a spokesperson for MS awareness. And Ozzy?

Well if you believe the press, Ozzy went for a beautician.

But not everybody believes the press.

Steven Machat was Ozzy's former business manager, responsible for putting together "Blizzard of Oz." In his book, GODS AND GANGSTERS, he discusses the details of Ozzy and Sharon's marriage, intimating that it was a union of financial gain rather than one of romance. And he thinks the whole crazy train the press has been riding lately is all an Osbourne family business decision.

"I don't know if the current family situation is truth," tells Critial Blast in an exclusive interview when asked about how the reported family situation might impact the settlement of a lawsuit brought against the Osbournes by Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley, who claim they weren't paid royatlies for songs they wrote for the band, The Blizzard of Ozz.

"At some point we need to stop wondering and worrying about them and we need to worry about the nation we live in," Machat continues. "We live in a country right now where we're going to vote for the candidate we hate the least. That's how people are going to vote. We live in a country right now which is at the highest rate of unemployment ever. The media's lying to you. We live in a country where we don't have health care, we have health insurance. We live in a country that sells you pharmaceutical pills which killed my son. And the media sits there talking about Ozzy and Sharon? Ozzy's an old...he's 71 years old. If he can get it up, God bless him. And if that beautician got it up for him, God bless him."

Machat's not withholding his props for Sharon Osbourne, however. "But for Sharon there would be no Ozzy alive today. The Ozzy I met back in 1979 -- I'm the guy who got him out of jail when he bit the bat in Iowa; I'm the guy that protected him when he peed on the Alamo wearing a dress; and I'm the guy that did all the contracts for him with CBS...and he got upset that I sold him to CBS and took him off Capitol Records. And when Sharon decided that... Her father was in love with someone her age...and Sharon would no longer be the favorite of her father and get all the money that she was getting, Sharon basically got Ozzy to fall in love with her, and became the controller; she became the rider of this beast of burden. Ozzy became her beast, and the burden was to make money for the Osbournes.

"Saying all that, she did a beautiful job of keeping him current. And now, who cares? Who cares what this 70 year old man's doing? So now she's running this story, and all the newspapers are writing that he cheated on her. He's incapable. And all of a sudden Ozzy becomes relevant, maybe they'll sell tickets. And who knows? My hat's off to her."

So the whole story -- all of the stories -- are just a publicity stunt?

"A hundred percent!" insists Machat. "He's incapable!"

Machat, who has been a mover and shaker in the rock music scene for decades, having had a hand in groups from Genesis to Bobby Brown to Wu Tang Clan, and countless more, is now setting his sights on a different goal: the Florida legislature.

"I want to bring people back to the essences of why we're alive," says Machat of his candidacy. "We're here to help each other. We're here to heal. We're here to stop beating each other and build together. I've made more dreams come true than anybody. Remember Soft Cell, "Tainted Love?" I did that. Remember Dexy's Midnight Runners? I did that. And when I say I did it, I'm talking to you now, you and I will sit and figure out something, and then all of a sudden we'll figure, 'Okay let's go make it happen.' I run and I jump, and I love life with every breath I have. "

"I want to put the R back in the word 'free'. When I was a boy this was the land of the free -- now we're the land of the fee. They create a celebrity, and we're living here like in some kind of bad fairy tale -- Sharon and Ozzy are a nightmare. He comes from Black Sabbath -- that's devil worship. There's no sharing of anything. He stands for everything that God stands against. We're here to share. We're here to build together, not incorporate and take everything away from everyone."

""I run as a third party, and I tell everyone here in Florida -- a Democratic candidate and a Republican candidate cannot represent the state of Florida. They represent the national party. The national party will get you to do what they want you to do, or they won't give you campaign contributions. And it's wrong. I want to help build dreams again."

Machat's senate campaign website can be found here.