{"id":530115,"date":"2026-03-11T23:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530115\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T23:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:03:10","slug":"ex-megadeth-bassist-david-ellefson-responds-to-dave-mustaines-jab-at-former-members-past-behaviours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530115\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson responds to Dave Mustaine\u2019s jab at former members\u2019 \u201cpast behaviours\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Megadeth<\/a> bassist David Ellefson has taken exemption to bandleader Dave Mustaine\u2019s comments about one ex-member\u2019s past behaviours.<\/p>\n

In an interview in December, Mustaine said that the thrash metal band won\u2019t reunite with any former members<\/a> on their ongoing farewell tour due to the \u201cbehaviour of one of the band members in the past\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although the singer\/guitarist didn\u2019t name names, this was thought by many to be a reference to his longtime second-in-command Ellefson, who was dismissed in 2022 after footage of him on an intimate video call with a fan was leaked online. Rumours circulated that the person Ellefson was interacting with was underaged, but this was later refuted by both Ellefson himself and the fan in question.<\/p>\n

Now, talking to Quemar Un Patrullero, Ellefson has responded to Mustaine\u2019s comment, telling Mustaine to \u201cfuck off\u201d and saying \u201cI didn\u2019t do anything that would prevent me from coming back\u201d to the band in future.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have it end where it did, and then [for Mustaine] even recently to say, \u2018Oh, because of what one person did, I can\u2019t bring anyone back.\u2019 You know what? Fuck off. Just fuck off,\u201d the bassist says (via The PRP). \u201cWho is that one person? It wasn\u2019t me, \u2019cause I didn\u2019t do anything that would prevent me from coming back at all. At all. And so this sort of deflectionary thing, to sort of get on some moral high ground, it\u2019s like, gimme a break. Really?\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cAnd look, I had rock stars much bigger than Dave coming to my side and coming to my aid, standing by me, saying, \u2018Man, just let me know if you need anything at all. That\u2019s really fucked up.\u2019 It\u2019s fucked up about how I was handled being discarded. People saying, \u2018I\u2019m really disappointed that they chose business over brotherhood,\u2019 \u2019cause at the end of the day, the brotherhood will always last beyond the business of owning a rock band \u2013 especially something we started and built together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellefson says that he \u201ccould call a lawyer\u201d over Mustaine\u2019s remarks but that he won\u2019t because \u201cthere\u2019s two ways to win in tug of war\u201d: \u201cI either pull you over the line or I just drop the rope and let you fall on your ass. [Laughs] And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve chosen to do \u2013 drop the rope.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ellefson originally recorded bass parts for Megadeth\u2019s 2022 album \u2013 The SIck, The Dying\u2026 And The Dead!<\/a> \u2013 but following his dismissal, his parts were removed and re-tracked by Testament\u2019s Steve Di Giorgio. He was replaced on a more permanent bassist by James LoMenzo, who previously performed with Megadeth during Ellefson\u2019s absence from the band in the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n

Megadeth released their self-titled final album<\/a> in January and started their farewell tour with a run of Canadian shows in February. The run will continue in South America in February. US and European festival dates have been booked for the summer, to be followed by an autumn North American tour supporting Iron Maiden<\/a> and some Australian shows. See details via the Megadeth website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mustaine announced that the band would call it quits last summer. He originally said that they were packing it in as they wanted to go out in top form. He\u2019s since revealed that he has the hand condition Dupuytren\u2019s contracture<\/a>, which causes him pain when he plays guitar, and that that is also a factor in the split.<\/p>\n

Following his Megadeth exit, Ellefson joined a number of bands, including alt-metal supergroup The Lucid and death metal act Dieth. He also performs in Kings Of Thrash alongside fellow ex-Megadeth member Jeff Young.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has taken exemption to bandleader Dave Mustaine\u2019s comments about one ex-member\u2019s past behaviours.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-530115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}