David Ellefson discusses being fired from Megadeth following allegations of grooming
After the emergence of claims that David Ellefson groomed underage girls online, the Megadeth bassist was fired from the metal group. At the time the troubling allegations were made, Ellefson denied all wrongdoing, maintaining that the explicit text messages were between two consenting adults and that the girls were not underage at the time they were sent.
Ellefson subsequently filed revenge-porn charges against the accusor who leaked the video footage and screenshots that led to the inquiry. He met with police in Scottsdale, Arizona, in June 2021 to pursue the charges. The musician was later asked to leave Megadeth. Discussing his removal from the band in an interview on Real Music With Gary Stuckey, Ellefson said: “You find out who your friends are and you find out who your friends aren’t pretty fucking quick when the shit hits the fan, ‘Cause everybody wants to be around you when you’re picking up your Grammy.”
The bassist continued: “Look, life is… You’re never on top all the time. Your life ebbs and flows, your career ebbs and flows – all of that. I’ve been fortunate enough to be a career musician and I’ve had to go with the ebbs and flows of the good, the bad and the otherwise, sometimes from within, sometimes from without.”
Shortly after Ellefson was sacked, frontman Dave Mustaine released a statement in which he said: “We do not take this decision lightly. While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed now is enough to make working together impossible moving forward.”
Speaking about the allegations in an interview held in October last year, Ellefson said: “The night [the videos were leaked online], a couple of people said, ‘Hey, don’t say anything,’” he said. “In particular, the Megadeth camp didn’t want me to say anything. But my legal [team] said, ‘Hey, I think you should say something. I think some people have done some really shitty things here and made some false allegations about you, and you have every right to defend yourself.’ And I did. Ultimately, that led to my dismissal from Megadeth. But I have every right, as anyone does, to defend yourself, especially when somebody is making false allegations about you like that.”
Megadeth recently shared the first track from their new album, recorded without Ellefson and out on September 2nd, 2022. It’s the first studio album the band has released since Dave Mustaine’s recovery from throat cancer.
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