Megadeth has parted ways with founding bassist David Ellefson amid accusations of sexual misconduct.
Ellefson, who founded Megadeth back in 1983, was been accused of grooming an underage girl via messages and videos online. In a post made on his Instagram account, which he has since made private, Ellefson denied the allegations.
“As you may or not know, some private and personal conversations and interactions have surfaced online, released with ill intention by a third party who was not authorized to have them or share them,” He wrote.
“While certainly embarrassing, I want to address it as openly and honestly as possible. As much as it’s not something I’m proud of, these were private, adult interactions that were taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation my career and family.”
Following Ellefson’s statement, the woman reportedly involved in the exchanges took to Instagram to confirm that she was “always a consenting adult” and that the acts were “consensual”.
Two weeks ago, Megadeth released a statement addressing the allegations, writing “We are aware of the recent statements regarding David Ellefson, and are watching developments closely,” the band said. “As it relates to creativity and business, we are all familiar with one another. However, there are clearly aspects of David’s private life that he has kept to himself.”
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Now, Megadeth have confirmed that they have parted ways with the bassist.
“We are informing our fans that David Ellefson is no longer playing with Megadeth and that we are officially parting ways with him. We do not take this decision lightly,” Megadeth lead guitarist Dave Mustaine wrote.
“While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed now is enough to make working together impossible moving forward. We look forward to seeing our fans on the road this summer, and we cannot wait to share our brand new music with the world. It is almost complete.”
— Megadeth (@Megadeth) May 24, 2021
