Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, has been vocal about wanting to participate in Megadeth‘s farewell touring, but thus far his hopes have fallen on deaf ears from the band’s vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. After rekindling their friendship following a royalty dispute in the early 2000s, the two parties once again fell out back in 2021, when Ellefson was the center of a sex tape scandal. Shortly after that footage leaked out, Ellefson was fired from the legendary thrash metal band, never to be invited back since.

In the years that have followed, comments made in the press by both parties regarding each other have been frigid. Mustaine himself recently pushed back against the idea of inviting ex-members to participate in the band’s farewell touring cycle, telling Guitar World last month, “I can’t really do that, because of the behavior of one of the band members in the past. I just can’t. Because, first off, it would be unfair to the other band members if I didn’t play with them as well.”

Ellefson however still asserts that given his past tenure in the group, he deserves another shot. Speaking with UnDinamo – La última Radio de Rock recently, Ellefson argued his case as follows:

“I have always said that I am available for that. And I would do it because I think any reason that I’m not there now is unfounded. It’s untruthful and it’s unfair because clearly there’s nothing wrong. So, I would hope and even pray to [God] that any misunderstanding, any bitterness would be removed, that that would somehow be dissipated.”

Ellefson later added of former members being involved:

“So for me, yes. Marty [Friedman, ex-Megadeth guitarist] — I can’t speak for anyone else, but Marty coming back to play a couple of shows [with Megadeth in 2023] showed his willingness, which I think was great. I would wish that Dave… Look, if it were just me and Dave sitting here, I’m sure everything would be fine, but there’s a lot of people with influences, and that can be sticky. So my hope is that the voice of the fans gets louder than any other voice that would tear it apart.”

[via Blabbermouth.net]