Earlier this week, Butler stated in an interview that Sabbath had offered Ward the chance to appear with them just before they took their last bow on The End tour.

The bassist reported: "It's been mentioned to him - but he doesn't want to do it. He wants to do the whole tour or nothing." That led Ward to accuse his former colleague of making "inaccurate statements," adding: "My management reached out to the Black Sabbath management to inquire as to whether or not they would like to discuss my participation in the tour. We were told there was no interest."