Megadeth icon Dave Mustaine recently spoke about reuniting with David Ellefson, who had been dismissed from the band in 2021 after he faced allegations of sexual misconduct with an underage fan.
David Ellefson had been with Megadeth on and off. He first formed the band with Mustaine in 1983 and continued until their break up in 2002. He then joined in 2010 and stayed until 2021, when a career-ending incident occurred.
Ellefson had some conversations leaked indicating that he had been grooming. Although the person in question, an adult, stated that nothing happened between them at the time, the Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine couldn’t risk his band and the rest of the members’ reputation. Hence, he fired Ellefson.
According to the rocker, it wasn’t an easy decision to fire his old friend from the band. However, he did what he thought was the best for everyone. Ellefson had sued Mustaine in 2004 for royalties, but the rock singer hadn’t got any bad feelings toward him despite that. However, he stated that even though he forgave him, he would never reunite or work on another project with him and made his stand.
Here is how he began describing the complicated decision:
“I have made mistakes myself, so I know what it feels like to have people gunning for you. But what we had to remember is that Megadeth has a lot of moving parts to it. There are four band members; you’ve got their families, their management companies, the agencies, all of their technicians, and on.
I can tell you that I’ve made decisions in the past that were detrimental to the security of the band, and I know what harm that caused. But I don’t want to be saying anything about anyone unable to defend themselves.”
He then continued about reuniting:
“God, it’s so hard to tap-dance around this. Let me say this. It was a hard decision that had to be made. There were a lot of people involved, and I had to make a decision because, unfortunately, when you’re the leader, you’re the one that has to suck it up and face the music.
All I wanted to do was make a clean break and not hurt anyone, not hurt the fans and not hurt him. I just wanted to move on, and I hope the gentleman concerned is doing okay.
I imagine there was some adjustment that had to take place when it happened. It was hard for me when I lost my job. But I’ve forgiven him before when he sued me, and I’ll forgive him a thousand times. I won’t play music with him anymore.“
The singer is quite determined to never let Ellefson in his career anymore. Although it was a difficult decision, the singer was unwilling to risk his, his band members, and their families’ reputations.
