Dave Ellefson admits that he felt abandoned by Megadeth in the wake of his sexting scandal last spring.
In his most forthright response yet to his termination, Ellefson says he believes his longtime Megadeth bandmate Dave Mustaine aggravated the situation by weighing in when he did.
Ellefson tells The Jeremy White Podcast that he responded to the leaked images and "grooming" allegations within hours of them appearing online. He consulted with his lawyer, reported the situation to law enforcement and began to deal with the fallout within his own family.
The story began to wane, Ellefson says, until Mustaine wrote in a statement released via Megadeth that the band was "watching developments closely" and that there were "clearly aspects of [Ellefson's] private life that he has kept to himself." The statement made it seem like there was more to the story than the bassist's confession.
"My legal said, 'I think you should [address it]. I think you should just run toward the bullets, take the sword, deal with it, just address it,' which I did," Ellefson said. "And it was done and it was over. And then the next day when the other side [Megadeth] started putting their announcements out, that's when it fanned the flames… The very thing they didn't want to happen is exactly what happened. And then I paid the penalty. Now I'm not in the band. So, go figure."
Mustaine informed Ellefson of his termination within a few days, though Megadeth waited almost two weeks to make the decision public. With his comment that there was "an already strained relationship" between the two, Mustaine again let on that there was something else afoot.
Ellefson says he appealed initially to Megadeth for support, but none came.
"I pushed back against [the accusations]. 'This is bulls--t,'" Ellefson recalled. "And that's when I said [to Megadeth], 'Look, they threw a Molotov cocktail — proverbial — at my house and burned my house down. Would you please help me? Would you please support me? I could use some help right now.' And quite honestly, I was just kicked to the side of the road to just deal with it on my own. So it's, like, all right. Well, then now we know where the loyalties lie. And now we move on."
Asked why Megadeth was so quick to wash their hands of him, Ellefson acknowledged what most fans assumed: Mustaine never truly forgave after their feud over royalties in the early-2000s.
"I don't know for sure 'cause I've had no further conversations with anyone since then," he clarified. "But I can only go back to maybe the lawsuit I filed 20 years ago, me not being agreeable to just remix the catalog — those things, for sure. I'm sure this was a longstanding resentment toward me, and this was an opportunity to settle the score. And it is what it is."
After spending most of the summer out of public view, Ellefson returned this fall to tout his found-footage horror film, Dwellers, and his new band, The Lucid.