Sharon Osbourne says Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson lied about

Two years ago, Carlos Watson, co-founder and CEO of Ozy Media, told CNBC during a live television broadcast that heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne and his wife, music industry manager and former talk show host Sharon Osbourne, became friends with him and invested in his company after a legal battle.

“Fun fact: our friend Ozzy and Sharon sued us briefly, and then we decided to be friends and now they’re investors in Ozy,” Watson said on CNBC at the time. (You can watch the video above.)

It turns out none of that was true, according to Sharon Osbourne, who spoke to CNBC on Thursday just as hedge fund honcho Marc Lasry quit as Ozy Media’s chairman.

Lasry’s resignation, and the revelation from Sharon Osbourne, came days after The New York Times reported that an Ozy executive had posed as a YouTube official on a February call with Goldman Sachs over a potential $40 million investment. Beyond Lasry’s resignation, veteran journalist Katty Kay has resigned from Ozy Media and investor SV Angel has decided it’s giving up its shares in the company.

“This guy is the biggest shyster I have ever seen in my life,” Osbourne said, referring to Watson, just after CNBC answered her phone call. Osbourne said she had reviewed Watson’s claim after CNBC reached out to her team with the details in the wake of the various controversies surrounding Ozy Media.

The Osbournes filed a trademark lawsuit in 2017 over the name Ozy Fest, which is Ozy Media’s annual concert and festival. The Osbournes had for years produced a metal music festival called Ozzfest, which has featured acts such as Ozzy Osbourne’s original band Black Sabbath, Tool and Slayer.

Sharon Osbourne told CNBC that Watson tried to intimidate her amidst the suit being filed, saying that his company has a ton of resources and could draw out the legal battle so much that the family would have had to continue to pay exorbitant legal fees.

Osbourne said the two sides settled after the couple finished paying around $300,000 in legal fees over the trademark battle between Ozy Media and the Osbournes’ company.

The Wrap reports that court documents filed against Ozy Media at the time claim the Ozy Fest trademarks “are nearly identical in sight, sound, connotation and commercial impression to MLC’s [Monowise Limited Corp.] well-known Ozzfest mark.”

Court documents say the settlement came in 2018. Osbourne shared with CNBC the details of the agreement.

“He couldn’t have the sort of artists that we have on our bill,” Osbourne said, referring to Watson. “So he couldn’t have any rock artists or alternative artists on his bill. Because he was starting to take rap artists and we’ve had a few rap artists on. So I’m like ‘this is getting ridiculous now.’ So, he had to approve the bills with me…