David Ellefson has said that it’s “fucking pathetic” that former bandmate Dave Mustaine is “still bitching” about getting kicked out of Metallica 40 years ago.
Mustaine, Megadeth frontman and former guitarist for Metallica, was ousted from the latter band in 1983 due to problems with alcoholism, drug abuse and personal clashes with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
Mustaine formed Megadeth the same year, with Ellefson playing bass in the band from its inception through to 2002, and again from 2010 until 2021 before being sacked after claims emerged that he had groomed an underage girl online.
He had denied any wrongdoing at the time, saying that explicit text messages were between consenting adults and that the woman was not underage when the encounters happened.
He subsequently filed revenge-porn charges against the person whom alleged illegally leaked a video and screenshots that prompted the allegations.
Ellefson has now reflected on the musicians’ respective firings in a new interview with online Brazilian show Heavy Talk, explaining how he personally handled the news that he was sacked from Megadeth.
“I got one call: ‘You’re fired,’” he said [via Blabbermouth]. “And I said, ‘What the fuck, man?’ I said, ‘Some shitty fucking people just dropped a bomb on my house. And that’s it? It’s not even true. It’s fucking bullshit. And this is how you treat me?’ It was non-negotiable.”
He added that Mustaine “didn’t want to know about” how he was “gonna take care of” the allegations, adding: “I think he was getting pressure from some other people around him”.
The musician went on that he has “no choice but to have to forgive it so I can move on”.
“I’ve watched how [Mustaine’s] treated his dismissal from Metallica, still bitching about it 40 years later, and I think it looks fucking pathetic,” he added.
“And it’s like, ‘You know what? Fix your shit and move on.’ And that’s how I’ve chosen to deal with it: fix your shit and move on.”
He continued: “And that’s why I put out four records in the time the last fucking Megadeth record came out, and I think every one of ’em are as good or better than the latest Megadeth record.
Since his dismissal from Megadeth, Ellefson formed a new band called The Lucid, who released a self-titled album in October 2021.
Last year, the ex-Megadeth bassist spoke out about being fired from the band, saying that “you find out who your friends are”.
Mustaine also recently reflected on the “horrifying” climate that pervaded following news that Ellefson had sexual encounters with a teenager. He had previously said he’ll “forgive” Ellefson, but “just won’t play music with him anymore”.
Elsewhere, Mustaine said last year that he hopes to one day work with Metallica‘s James Hetfield again.
