David Ellefson Responds To Dave Mustaine’s Megadeth Comments: “I Didn’t Do Anything That Would Prevent Me From Coming Back At All”

Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has once again addressed his controversial 2021 dismissal from the band, pushing back against recent remarks made by frontman Dave Mustaine regarding the group’s refusal to reunite with past members during its upcoming farewell era.

Ellefson originally rejoined Megadeth in 2010 after settling a long-running royalty dispute stemming from his earlier exit in the early 2000s. His second tenure came to an abrupt end in 2021 following a widely publicized online sex scandal involving a consensual relationship with a 19-year-old fan. Graphic footage connected to the interaction later surfaced online, intensifying scrutiny around the situation and prompting allegations across social media.

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Authorities ultimately cleared Ellefson of any criminal wrongdoing, while the bassist maintained he had been the victim of revenge porn. Despite that outcome, Megadeth moved forward without him, and relations between Ellefson and Mustaine have remained strained ever since.

Tensions resurfaced in late 2025 when Mustaine, speaking with Eddie Trunk, ruled out inviting former Megadeth members back for the band’s farewell touring cycle, citing the past behavior of an unnamed member.

“I can’t really do that, because of the behavior of one of the band members in the past. I just can’t. Because, first off, it would be unfair to the other band members if I didn’t play with them as well.”

Many fans interpreted the comment as a reference to Ellefson — something the bassist has repeatedly disputed. In earlier interviews, he suggested lingering personal issues and unresolved resentment played a larger role in his removal than the controversy itself.

Now, in a new interview with Quemar Un Patrullero, Ellefson directly addressed the circumstances surrounding his firing and the fallout that followed.

“[The Megadeth camp] called me to fire me. And I told ’em, ‘Guys, there’s nothing here. There’s no reason to let me go. This is all just nonsense on the Internet. It’s all it is. It’s nothing at all. And I will maintain that position all along,’ and I have. At some point you could just stay going after people on the Internet and trolls and all this kind of sh*t. It’s endless. There is no Internet police, there’s no Internet human resources, where you can go and say, ‘Hey, this guy said this’ and ‘this person said this,’ because you should, because it’s highly defamatory.

And defamation is when something harms your reputation, maybe even prevents you from getting more work. Those are real things. And the fact that it can happen on the Internet, which is kind of a fake place — it’s not even real — yet that could somehow come over to your reality. I’m fortunate that the fanbase stood by me. They said, ‘Dude, that is bullsh*t. How dare you do that to Ellefson?’”

Ellefson also responded directly to Mustaine’s recent explanation for not bringing former members back into the fold, expressing frustration with what he views as misdirected blame.

“To have it end where it did, and then [for Mustaine] even recently to say, ‘Oh, because of what one person did, I can’t bring anyone back.’ You know what? Fck off. Just fck off. Who is that one person? It wasn’t me, ’cause I didn’t do anything that would prevent me from coming back at all. At all. And so this sort of deflectionary thing, to sort of get on some moral high ground — it’s like, gimme a break. Really?

And look, I had rock stars much bigger than Dave coming to my side and coming to my aid, standing by me, saying, ‘Man, just let me know if you need anything at all. That’s really fcked up.’ It’s fcked up about how I was handled being discarded. People saying, ‘I’m really disappointed that they chose business over brotherhood,’ because at the end of the day, the brotherhood will always last beyond the business of owning a rock band — especially something we started and built together.”

Despite acknowledging he could pursue legal action, Ellefson says he has chosen instead to move forward rather than continue escalating the dispute.

“So, with that said, at one level, again, I could call a lawyer, I could go back into defamation lawsuits, and I have every right to — trust me. But at the same time, there’s two ways to win in tug of war. I either pull you over the line or I just drop the rope and let you fall on your ass. [Laughs] And that’s what I’ve chosen to do — drop the rope. Drop the rock.”

With Megadeth approaching the closing chapter of its career, the possibility of reconciliation between the longtime bandmates appears increasingly unlikely — at least for now.

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