Former Megadeth bassist David Ellfeson has pushed back against recent statements made by the band’s vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. While Ellefson‘s original tenure in the thrash metal outfit was followed by a royalty lawsuit in the early 2000s, Ellefson would return to active duty in 2010. He maintained that position until he found himself abruptly dropped from the group in 2021.

Ellefson‘s dismissal came about as the result of a sex scandal. The then 58-year-old bassist was found to have conducted a sexual relationship online with a 19-year-old fan. The news came as a bit of a shock, putting increased scrutiny on his marriage and is Christian faith . Given the nature of the scandal, allegations of grooming, sexual misconduct and more also emerged.

Ellefson‘s online encounters came with graphic footage, as videos of him pleasuring himself leaked out online from the aforementioned activities. With the authorities involved, Ellefson was cleared of any legal wrongdoing, and at the time expressed concerns that he was a victim of revenge porn.

The relationship between Mustaine and Ellefson has remained frosty since that incident and subsequent firing, with both direct and thinly veiled barbs being exchanged in the press since. With Mustaine announcing the upcoming end of Megadeth, Ellefson‘s indignation of being left out of the band has exacerbated.

Mustaine stirred the pot in an interview with Eddie Trunk in December of 2025. In it, Mustaine ruled out inviting back any former members of Megadeth to take part in the farewell touring cycle. Mustaine’s reasoning for that was attributed to the actions of an unnamed past member. He stated:

“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.”

Many presumed that member to be Ellefson. However, Ellefson, for his part, has previously speculated that his ousting from the band and the enduring cold shoulder from Mustaine were caused by “personal grudges and resentments” more than any unforgivable wrongdoing. Last month, Ellefson went so far as telling UnDinamo:

“I would [play with Megadeth again] 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.”

Now in a new interview with ‘Quemar Un Patrullero‘, Ellefson has further expressed his frustration with the impasse he finds himself in with Dave and the forced exile he endures from a band he helped to define. Speaking in this new chat of getting fired over the matter, Ellefson stated: [transcribed by Blabbermouth.net]

“[The Megadeth camp] called me to fire me. And I told ’em, ‘Guys, there’s nothing here. There’s no reason to let me go. This is all just nonsense on the Internet. It’s all it is. It’s nothing at all. And I will maintain that position all along,’ and I have. At some point you could just stay going after people on the Internet and trolls and all this kind of sh*t. It’s endless. There is no Internet police, there’s no Internet human resources, where you can go and say, ‘Hey, this guy said this’ and ‘this person said this’, and da, da, da, because you should, because it’s highly defamatory.

And defamation is when something harms your reputation, maybe even prevents you from getting more work. Those are real things. And the fact that it can happen on the Internet, which is kind of a fake place. It’s not even real. It’s kind of a fake place, yet that that could somehow come over to your reality. I’m fortunate that the fanbase stood by me. They said, ‘Dude, that is bullsh*t. How dare you do that to Ellefson?’”

Ellefson later went on to address the comment made above by Mustaine which ruled out a live reunion with former members due to the actions of one member. Ellefson said of that:

“To have it end where it did, and then [for Mustaine] even recently to say, ‘Oh, because of what one person did, I can’t bring anyone back.’ You know what? F*ck off. Just f*ck off. Who is that one person? It wasn’t me, ’cause I didn’t 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’s, like, gimme a break. Really?

And look, I had rock stars much bigger than Dave coming to my side and coming to my aid, standing by me, saying, ‘Man, just let me know if you need anything at all. That’s really f*cked up.’ It’s f*cked up about how I was handled being discarded. People saying, ‘I’m really disappointed that they chose business over brotherhood,’ ’cause at the end of the day, the brotherhood will always last beyond the business of owning a rock band — especially something we started and built together.”

“So, with that said, at one level, again, I could call a lawyer, I could go back into defamation lawsuits, and I have every right to — trust me. But at the same time, there’s two ways to win in tug of war. I either pull you over the line or I just drop the rope and let you fall on your ass. [Laughs] And that’s what I’ve chosen to do — drop the rope. Drop the rock.”