David Ellefson has already left and returned to Megadeth once, but it doesn’t look likely that will happen again.
In an interview with Metal Hammer, frontman Dave Mustaine says that he “won’t play music with [Ellefson] anymore” after the founding Megadeth bassist was fired from the band last year due to leaked sexually explicit videos of him online.
“All I wanted to do was make a clean break, and not hurt anyone, not hurt the fans and not hurt him,” Mustaine says, without naming Ellefson by name. “I just wanted to move on, and I hope the gentleman concerned is doing OK. I imagine there was some adjustment that had to take place when it happened.”
Ellefson was previously absent from Megadeth when Mustaine reformed the band in 2004, which led to a legal battle between the two. He eventually rejoined the group in 2010.
“It was hard for me when I lost my job,” Mustaine says, presumably referring to his dismissal from Metallica in 1983. “But I’ve forgiven [Ellefson] before when he sued me and I’ll forgive him a thousand times. I just won’t play music with him anymore.”
Mustaine previously told Rolling Stone that Ellefson’s firing was “hard on me,” while adding that he’s “happier now than I’ve ever been.”
Megadeth, meanwhile, is set to release a new album called The Sick, the Dying…and the Dead! on September 2. What Ellefson had already recorded for the album before his departure was replaced by Testament bassist Steve Di Giorgio. Megadeth has since recruited returning member James LoMenzo to be the band’s official new bassist.
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