DAVID ELLEFSON Says MEGADETH Fans Don't Want To See Him And DAVE MUSTAINE Fighting: 'We're Their F***ing Heroes'

In a new interview with Gastão Moreira of Brazil's Kazagastão (KZG),ex-MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson was asked if it bothers him to talk about his former band now, two years after he was fired from the group. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It doesn't. It really doesn't. I mean, look, I spent almost 40 years — well, this year is 40 years, coming up in June, is 40 years of when Dave [Mustaine] and I started the band. If I'm gonna disrespect that, then that's to disrespect me. That's to say what a loser I am, what a dumb thing I did. 'You're an idiot, David.' And I'm not an idiot. It was an awesome thing. Now, was it challenging? Yeah. Did it have its hardships? Of course it did. But it also, obviously, had its big successes.

"I'm sad when I see Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley [of KISS] arguing, or whatever is going on," he continued. "It's, like, these are my heroes. And we're all grown men now, so it's a different kind of thing. But they're still my heroes. And I even think about that with our fans. It's, like, they don't wanna see us fighting. We're their fucking heroes, man. We changed their lives. We wrote songs that got them through good and bad times. So that's why I don't wanna go talk smack. I've had interviewers who have wanted to go there with me. I try not to take the bait. I've turned down some big interviews with people who wanted to address that. And I'm, like, 'Me and Dave aren't talking about it, so neither should you.'

"My friend Dave, despite our differences and the things we've gone through, we've been friends through better or worse — it's like a marriage; for better or worse," Ellefson added. "And even though you may not be talking and you may not be hanging out together now, the truth of it is we did something that was just… Basically, it was like we were astronauts who went to the moon, man."

Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH in May 2021, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.

Shortly before Ellefson was dismissed from MEGADETH, he released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan.

In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Mustaine, alleging the frontman shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.

Earlier this month, Ellefson told Brazil's Heavy Talk that he believes Mustaine was
"getting pressure from some other people around him" to fire Ellefson in response to the sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist which were leaked on the Internet. "And it's too bad it went that way," he said. "Because it was really nothing. I took care of it. And then once the word came out that I was fired, then it turned into this big fucking thing, which, quite honestly, was very damaging and very hurtful and not fair. I'm glad I don't have that fucking amends on my shoulder, because that was fucked up."

David went on to say that he has "no choice" but to "forgive it so I can move on. We're all human, and it is what it is," he explained. "You can't lament it. I've watched how [Mustaine has] treated his dismissal from METALLICA, still bitching about it 40 years later, and I think it looks fucking pathetic. And it's, like, 'You know what? Fix you shit and move on.' And that's how I've chosen to deal with it: fix your shit and move on."

Ellefson added: "I mean, look, I knew three things when I met Dave: one, our band was gonna be successful; two, it was gonna be a lot of work; and three, one day this is gonna end really badly. I just could tell. [Laughs] Even at 18 years old, a kid from the farm, naïve as I was, I went, 'Yeah, all three of those things.' And I was right: check, check, check. I certainly didn't see it ending like that. And part of me, I always kind of go, 'Is it really the end of the story?' I mean, look at how it ended in 2002. In 2004 and [200]5, we were in litigation over business matters and stuff, and I ended up going back to the band. So I'd rather not disrespect it and be pissed about it. These are things that you work out privately, not publicly. And the press liked to have a field day with it because it was good clickbait there for a season. But the truth of it is Dave and I aren't talking about it anymore, and that's why I'm not talking about it anymore. At some point, you move on. You let the music do the talking now."