Dave Mustaine, the famed frontman, vocalist and guitarist of Megadeth, has given his reaction to David Ellefson’s scandal in 2021 that led to Ellefson being forced out of the band. The scandal, occuring in May of last year, saw claims that the bassist had allegedly groomed a 17 year old girl with purported text and video showing sexual relations between the two. Ellefson has continued to maintain his innocence in the claims of allegedly grooming, stating that she was not underage.

Dave Mustaine, who has maintained that Ellefson will never be able to return to the band, has now shared some details about his response to the scandal. Ultimate Classic Rock quotes the musician explaining that “When all of that stuff happened, I was pretty blown away. And I didn’t want to do anything to harm anyone; there was already enough stuff going around… So I figured, ‘You know what? I’m not gonna take anybody’s side. All I know is that for now we need to do something.’ The climate was just horrifying, to have something like that. So we parted ways [with Ellefson].”

The decision to part ways with Ellefson came soon before the band was on set to perform their Fall 2021 tour, and in the midst of the recording process of their album The Sick, The Dying, The Dead, leading Mustaine to think: “‘Do we get someone to come in as a session player? Or do I really, really, really go all in and start the search for a permanent guy?’ And we didn’t have the time. We had to have the record in — it had been two years since we started it and six years since Dystopia, so it was long overdue.”

The band eventually elected to recruit Steve DiGiorgia to play in Ellefson’s stead. Later, Ellefson responded by condemning Mustaine’s conduct in the firing, while also stating that he is relieved to no longer be in the band. Revolver Magazine quotes the bassist explaining that he “kind of saw the events of last year as just the perfect opportunity to choose box office over brotherhood,” stating that he looks back at the firing and ” feel like I got kicked out of hell. So, whatever.”

He went on to describe Mustaine’s conduct as abuse: “”It was abusive, for sure. It was just abusive. It was unnecessary. … Dave even said he had a resentment toward me that he couldn’t let go, and I didn’t know what it was.”

The bassist compares his firing to Mustaine being fired from Metallica in 1983, suggesting that Mustaine wants to put the bassist through what Mustaine went through then: “Look, I think part of it, too, is he’s obviously not gotten over this thing about being fired from Metallica, so he wanted to do to somebody else what he felt they did to him, which is kick him out and then someone else play his guitar parts. ‘So let’s kick Junior out and then have someone else play his bass parts.’ And to me, I’m, like, I don’t care. I already fucking helped put the record together. I played on the record. I got paid to be on the record. So, hey, if you wanna get someone else to play, whatever.”