Rod Stewart is being slammed after 'weird' tribute to Ozzy Osbourne

Sir Rod Stewart has rubbed people up the wrong way after sharing a strange tribute to Ozzy Osbourne while on stage in the US.

The London-born music legend, 80, has been paying homage to the late Black Sabbath frontman during his recent gigs in America for his 'One Last Time' tour.

Stewart has been dedicating his 1988 track 'Forever Young' to Ozzy in wake of the rocker's death nearly two weeks ago on 22 July.

The 76-year-old died 'surrounded by love', his devastated family announced in a solemn statement, before thousands of fans then lined the streets of Birmingham last week to bid him one final farewell.

Stewart seemingly decided to take his tribute to Ozzy to the next level in recent days, as he's now drastically upped the ante - by blasting a bizarre AI-generated video on screens around the arena.

As he belted out 'Forever Young', concertgoers were left baffled as a clip depicting Ozzy in heaven while clutching a selfie stick alongside a string of other late stars played in the background.

It showed the 'Prince of Darkness' smiling against a backdrop of fluffy clouds while stood alongside the likes of Prince, Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, Whitney Houston and Tupac Shakur.

AI-generated versions of George Michael and Tina Turner also made an appearance, as did Michael Jackson and rapper XXXtentacion.

After the video was played during one of Stewart's gigs in Charlotte, North Carolina, he then weirdly told the crowd, as per the Charlotte Observer: "Very sad. A lot of those people died ’cause of drugs...I’m still here, though!"

Fans have shared footage of the peculiar video montage online that has since gone viral, with one dubbing it the 'craziest, most disrespectful sh*t I ever saw in my life'.

The caption of the post then read: "Yes the rumours are true: I went to a Rod Stewart concert last night (lol) and witnessed man made horrors beyond my comprehension.

"Ozzy Osbourne with a selfie stick in heaven smiling with Tina Turner, Bob Marley, Prince, and…XXXTentacion."

Social media users then flooded the comment section with their thoughts, with the general consensus being that Stewart had massively missed the mark with his tribute to Ozzy.

One person said: "This is...astonishing. Upsetting and hilariously bad."

Another wrote: "Omfg I was there too and was horrified by this!"

A third added: "I am shocked that no one told Rod that this was a terrible idea!!!"

A fourth joked: "This is a crime that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent."

And a fifth chimed in saying: "I f***ing hate people that use AI this way with all my soul."

Others weren't as offended by the footage, as some people said they didn't see anything wrong with Stewart's tribute.

"I think it's a wonderful tribute to all of the artists depicted," one person declared.

A second said: "Am I missing something? I don’t understand how this is disrespectful?"

And a third commented on the post: "This review is ridiculous, Rod Stewart made a beautiful tribute!"

In wake of Ozzy's death, the 'Maggie May' hitmaker was among the stars who took to social media to pay their respects.

He shared an Instagram post that read: "Bye, bye Ozzy. Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there - later rather than sooner."