Megadeth bassist David Ellefson was recently accused of grooming an underage fan, after text exchanges and explicit FaceTime videos were posted online. Ellefson said the “certainly embarrassing” leaked materials were not something he was proud of, but stresses that the footage was “taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation my career and family.” Specifically, Ellefson noted the person he was interacting with was of age.
Megadeth said they would be “watching developments closely” as they unfolded, and have now come to the decision to fire Ellefson.
Dave Mustaine wrote: “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. 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.”
