Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine recently spoke to how it was “hard on him” letting go of David Ellefson. Back in May of 2021, Ellefson was let go from the band following a sex scandal he was involved in. While the Megadeth frontman had spoken about Ellefson in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Mustaine went into more detail about Ellefson’s exit via a recent conversation with Metal Hammer.
At one point, speaking to his decision to let go of Ellefson, the Megadeth frontman shares, “All I wanted to do was make a clean break, and not hurt anyone, not hurt the fans and not hurt him. I just wanted to move on, and I hope the gentleman concerned is doing okay.”
This is everything Mustaine had to say regarding David Ellefson’s departure from the band:
“I have made mistakes myself and so I know what it feels like to have people gunning for you. But what we had to remember is that Megadeth has a lot of moving parts to it. There are four bandmembers, you’ve got their families, their management companies, the agencies, all of their technicians and on and on and on.
“I can tell you, I’ve made decisions in the past that were detrimental to the security of the band, and I know what harm that caused. But I don’t want to be saying anything about anyone who is unable to defend themselves.”
Mustaine contines:
“God, it’s so hard to tap-dance around this…
“Let me just say this – it was a hard decision that had to be made. There were a lot of people involved and I had to make a decision, because unfortunately, when you’re the leader, you’re the one that has to suck it up and face the music.
“All I wanted to do was make a clean break, and not hurt anyone, not hurt the fans and not hurt him. I just wanted to move on, and I hope the gentleman concerned is doing okay. I imagine there was some adjustment that had to take place when it happened.”
Mustaine concludes:
“It was hard for me when I lost my job. But I’ve forgiven him before when he sued me [Ellefson filed a lawsuit against Mustaine in 2004, claiming that he was owed millions in outstanding royalties. The case was dismissed] and I’ll forgive him a thousand times. I just won’t play music with him anymore.”
What are your thoughts on Dave Mustaine’s actions?
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