David Ellefson – Now I Know Where Megadeth’s Loyalties Lie
Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson spoke about his firing from the band in a new interview with the Jeremy White Show podcast (as heard below). Ellefson believes he was abandoned by Megadeth in his hour of need, equating his firing to being “kicked to the side of the road” after his house was burned down.
Explicit videos between Ellefson and a teenage girl were posted to social media earlier this year. The videos were apparently recorded without the musician’s consent. The bassist faced grooming allegations when it was revealed that he first met the 19-year-old while signing autographs two years prior in Amsterdam, meaning she was either 16 or 17 at the time.
Ellefson has denied all grooming allegations. The female in question claims the explicit communications between the two were initiated by her and never took place while she was underage. Megadeth parted ways with Ellefson shortly after the scandal went public and later revealed he was working with the Scottsdale police concerning an investigation into revenge porn charges against the person who leaked the video.
“It was all based on fear. It wasn't based on reality,” Ellefson said of his firing to the Jeremy White Show. “They said all sides would be heard, and, quite honestly, no sides were heard. Because within two weeks, I went through the process that I told them I was gonna go through, to just walk through it and say, 'Hey, this is a bunch of bullshit,' and I did — I did my part. And I confessed my… [Laughs] Look, I was caught on Candid Camera; there was no hiding from it. So you just address it. You take the sword. You deal with it. It was embarrassing. Sorry about that. Move on. And that's it.”
"I pushed back against [the accusations]. [I said] 'This is bullshit.' And that's when I said [to the Megadeth camp], 'Look, they threw a Molotov cocktail — proverbial — at my house and burned my house down. Would you please help me? Would you please support me? I could use some help right now.' And quite honestly, I was just kicked to the side of the road to just deal with it on my own. So it's, like, all right. Well, then now we know where the loyalties lie. And now we move on."
Ellefson continued, "I've had no further conversations with anyone since then. But I can only go back to maybe the lawsuit I filed [against Mustaine] 20 years ago, me not being agreeable to just remix the catalog — those things, for sure. I'm sure this was a longstanding resentment toward me, and this was an opportunity to settle the score. And it is what it is."
"The truth of it is when you're in a band, when you're in any relationship — brotherhood, marriages, whatever — you have to agree to disagree, 'cause you're not always gonna agree on anything. And I think when things were reset 20 years ago — this was no longer gonna be a band; it was no longer a partnership; it was his [Mustaine's] way or no way. That was very clear. That's why I wasn't in the band 20 years ago when this happened. [Mustaine basically said] 'This is the way we're doing it. There is no negotiation. It's my way or the highway.'" [transcription via Blabbermouth]