A former Megadeth producer has insisted that disgraced bassist David Ellefson is “probably guilty of what 90 per cent of other musicians have done”.
ICYMI, Ellefson was fired from the band earlier this month amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Ellefson, who founded Megadeth back in 1983, has been accused of grooming a younger woman through messages and videos online.
In the statement to Rolling Stone, Ellefson described himself as a victim of revenge porn.
“Recently, a very private video was illegally posted on the internet and false allegations were made against me,” he said.
“The actions in the video were between two consenting adults and were recorded without my knowledge. I am working with Scottsdale Police Department in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted this video.”
Now, producer Max Norman has told The Metal Voice (via Ultimate Guitar) that he “feels sorry” for Ellefson.
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“I feel sorry for David [Ellefson], he made a mistake, it was a silly thing to do – I feel sorry for him. I also have kind of mixed feelings about this. I understand [David] Mustaine (Megadeth co-founder) removing him from the band,” Norman began.
He continued: “I certainly don’t think that David Ellefson is a pedophile – he is probably guilty of what 90 per cent of the other musicians out there have done at one stage or another. It feels a little weird because he is a pastor and there is this religious thing there as well.”
“I see both sides and I don’t want to be judgmental about it. I feel sorry for David cause it’s going to affect his whole life and he has a whole lot of other stuff going on and it’s going to affect that stuff too, the guy is going to go through a real hard time.”
“The only other thing I would like to say is if David sees this maybe he will do this. I do think that he should apologise publicly to his wife and his family for the embarrassment and maybe to Megadeth too, I don’t know.”
“But like I said I am not going to judge it. It is very unfortunate and kind of sad. Who knows the whole story, no one knows,” he concluded.
You can read more about this topic on the Metal Observer.