The Dave Mustaine-fronted band announce they decided to part ways with the embattled bassist after he was accused of grooming an underage girl online for sex.
- May 25, 2021
AceShowbiz - Heavy metal stars Megadeth have dumped David Ellefson from their line-up after the bassist was accused of grooming an underage girl for sex.
The "In My Darkest Hour" rockers announced the news to fans online on Monday (24May21), almost two weeks after the musicians addressed the allegations by insisting they are looking forward to "the truth coming to light."
In their social media statement, frontman 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."
Ellefson previously denied the sexual misconduct claims, insisting his sexually explicit interactions with the woman - who was not underage - were "private and personal" and were only released with "ill intention" by a third party who was not authorised to have access to them.
He has yet to comment on his exit from the group he helped to co-found with Mustaine back in 1983. He left the band in 2002 before rejoining in 2010.
Meanwhile, the woman involved in the grooming allegations issued a statement, "I'm the girl people are talking about in the posts about David Ellefson right now and I just want to tell my side of the story because people are sharing misinformation and the situation is getting out of hand without the truth being out there [sic]."
"Yes, those video calls did happen, but I was the one to initiate them and never was I underage, I was always a consenting adult. Nothing inappropriate ever happened before that. It was all consensual, I'm not a victim and I have not been groomed in the slightest as I was the one to initiate it... It was all consensual and all online..."
