Ozzy Osbourne Arrested for Urinating on Alamo, 1982

Music Related | July, 2025 Ozzy Osbourne (Image Public Domain)

From biting the head off a bat mid-concert to chowing down on two live doves at a record label meeting, Ozzy Osbourne has pulled off some truly wild, and downright shocking, stunts throughout his career.

But one of the most infamous moments didn’t happen on stage — it happened when he got caught short in Texas and accidentally offended the entire state.

Back in 1982, Ozzy was partying hard in San Antonio. After a long night (and morning) of drinking, he stumbled out onto the street needing to pee. The nearest target? A random old-looking wall. To make matters even weirder, he was wearing a dress at the time. Sharon, his then-girlfriend and future wife, had hidden his clothes to stop him from going out. Spoiler: It didn’t work.

Years later, Ozzy recalled the moment like this;

I was legless with a bottle of Courvoisier in my hand at nine o’clock in the morning, and I wanted to take a pee. So I find this old wall, and I had this green evening dress on, and I’m standing there having a leak.

Unfortunately, that old wall turned out to be part of the Alamo Plaza, a hugely important historical site. While he didn’t actually pee on the Alamo building itself, doing his business near it was still a big deal, especially to Texans who see the site as sacred ground.

For context, the Alamo was originally founded by Catholic missionaries in 1718 and was the site of the famous 1836 battle between Texan revolutionaries and the Mexican army. So yea...not the best choice for a bathroom break.

Ozzy was promptly arrested for public intoxication and thrown in jail for the afternoon. He was released later that evening on a $40 bond. But the fallout lasted much longer.

He was banned from playing in San Antonio for a full decade. It wasn’t until 1992 that the city forgave him, after he made a public apology and donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.