Former Judas Priest singer Tim “Ripper” Owens, who’ll tour as part of the Dio Returns hologram show this summer, said he was confused over people loving late musicians portrayed onscreen in movies but hating the idea of hologram projections appearing onstage.

He also argued against those who object to money being made from the memory of Ronnie James Dio by using live projections, saying that money was made from movie versions too.

Speaking just as Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody passed the $900 million mark in world box-office takings, Owens told Everblack that "it's kind of funny, yet people all went and saw the Queen movie, where somebody is acting on somebody else who is dead. I don't get the concept. People are like, ‘People are going to make money from it.’ First of all, people make money from anything; that's what you do. Second of all, Wendy Dio spent a bazillion dollars just trying to make fans happy with this thing. She's not made a dime yet. She's lost a lot of money just trying to make fans happy.”

You can listen to the full interview below.

He also queried why people would object to a hologram while “they would go to a wax museum and see a wax statue of Lemmy and think, ‘Oh my God, this is fantastic.’ ... “They'll say, ‘I love that Queen movie.’ Then they go, ‘It’s terrible you're doing this. Let Ronnie rest in peace.’ … Listen, let them be mad.”

Owens said the Dio hologram show was a “great idea." “I'm doing it because I'm friends with Ronnie," he noted. "[His] vocals are from the live version and the band is playing live. It's pretty cool. … Then I'm going to come out and sing a couple of songs, then Oni [Logan] will sing a couple of songs and the hologram will do some more.”

He said he sees it like this: "If they would make a David Bowie hologram, I would go see it. If they made an Elvis [Presley] hologram, I'd go see it. I'd go see it because, first of all, I never saw Elvis and I never saw David Bowie. I'd want to go see how this thing is, the curiosity. I love the artists and I would love to see the show. I'm just doing it as a fan who is jumping in on something that is new.”

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