{"id":481979,"date":"2026-02-21T13:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481979\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T13:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:11:07","slug":"bassist-mike-leon-announces-he-has-quit-cky-band-claim-they-fired-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481979\/","title":{"rendered":"Bassist Mike Leon Announces He Has Quit CKY, Band Claim They Fired Him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bassist Mike Leon has announced his exit from CKY, with his departure coming around roughly half a year since he joined the group this past July<\/a>. At the time of his addition to the alternative rock outfit, Leon described himself as a \u201cdiehard CKY fan\u201d, while also stating, \u201cAs a lifelong fan, it\u2019s an unreal feeling sharing the stage with the very same guys who sparked my passion to play in a band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Announcing his exit in a statement issued yesterday, February 20th, Leon pointed out issues with the band\u2019s operating environment and apparent personality conflicts with vocalist\/guitarist Chad I Ginsburg:<\/p>\n

\u201cHey everyone,<\/p>\n

I want to let you know that my time with CKY has come to an end. Growing up, I was a huge fan of the band, and getting the opportunity to play with them was a dream come true. I genuinely enjoyed my time there, and it was fun\u2026 until it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

For full transparency, I will not be participating in the band\u2019s upcoming shows. As unfortunate as this is, given the circumstances, I believe this was the right move to make. The differences regarding logistics and business decisions, primarily driven by the actions of the band\u2019s leader, created internal issues that made an already stressful environment increasingly difficult to work in.<\/p>\n

This unprofessionalism and lack of accountability was known well before I joined, and persisted throughout my time with the band, making day-to-day operations a constant challenge. The love I had for the band blinded me to the red flags my peers and the band\u2019s previous history had warned me about, especially surrounding the frontman, yet I chose to believe things would be different.<\/p>\n

In all of my years of working in this industry, I have never experienced this level of toxicity from an individual, and it stings extra having been perpetrated by the very band that first inspired me to start my career as a musician.<\/p>\n

Music should be a source of joy, but the environment became a source of stress that ultimately outweighed the positive aspects of being part of the band I grew up loving. I will continue creating music, and I sincerely thank all of you for your unconditional support.<\/p>\n

~Mike\u201c<\/p>\n

In a video statement shared via his Instagram stories yesterday, Ginsburg stated [transcribed by theprp.com]:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what Mike Leon is talking about in his post, however, I do know the facts. And The facts are Mike \u2014 and you know them too \u2014 the facts are that we fired you last night because you hate dogs, and you didn\u2019t want to tour with the dogs, and you wanted more money, and you weren\u2019t happy with anything ever. So unfortunately it\u2019s not working out Mike. But what you wrote is fucking crazy dude. Like prove any of that, fucking shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate post, Ginsburg offered:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell hot dang, lots of bass players wanting to now play bass for CKY. Are you sure? We\u2019ve had ove rnine I think. If you want to play base [sic] for CKY send a DM to @ckymusic\u201d<\/p>\n

Ginsburg also added:<\/p>\n

\u201cdon\u2019t worry. BASS JOB fully covered for the upcoming tour<\/p>\n

dates are at ckyofficial.com<\/a><\/p>\n

because we knew we were replacing the bassist.<\/p>\n

getting like way too many requests to be our bass player now please send a video dm to @ckymusic<\/p>\n

must be based in Nashville.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ginsburg has been at the center of several controveries amid CKY\u2018s touring in recent years. In 2024, a backstage fistfight<\/a> between himself and Alien Ant Farm vocalist Dryden Mitchell led to CKY being removed from their UK\/Ireland tour together. This past November, BLACKGOLD withdrew from CKY\u2018s UK tour, personally calling out Ginsburg\u2018s alleged behavior<\/a> as the reason for their exit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bassist Mike Leon has announced his exit from CKY, with his departure coming around roughly half a year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[145195,145196,88,222175,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-481979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-chad-i-ginsburg","9":"tag-cky","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-mike-leon","12":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}