Ex-MEGADETH Guitarist CHRIS POLAND On DAVID ELLEFSON's Sex Video Scandal: 'I Thought He Handled It Really Well'

In a new interview with Rocking With Jam Man, former MEGADETH guitarist Chris Poland was asked if he thinks "it's fair" that David Ellefson was fired from the band last year following a sex video scandal. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Not really, no. I don't. Considering if it was, like, the '80s, they would have applauded Dave for what happened. It's the cancel culture thing. But you know what? Dave's [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] a, he's a Christian now. Maybe he just didn't feel right about it. I don't know. Dave Ellefson's a Christian too. It's kind of, like, you're supposed to forgive and forget, and I guess he just couldn't. But that's his business."

Chris added: "You know what? When it comes down to it, we're all sinners, man."

According to Poland, the entire episode involving Ellefson was blown out of proportion.

"I don't know if you ever read Dave's books, but in his first book — I think it was his first; maybe it was his second — I had mentioned early on, before Dave Ellefson was an alcoholic drug addict, I know for sure he was a sex addict," Poland said. "I mean, I suspected it back then, because, dude, it was, like, 'Jesus. Really? Do you have to have sex with every woman you see?' I just kind of thought about it, and I was, like, 'Yeah, you're totally sober. You're not on drugs. You're doing your thing. You got it together.' But the sex thing just came out of nowhere. He's dealing with that.

"He's an adult," Chris continued. "He'll be fine. And everybody's already over it. It's not that big a deal. It's really not."

Poland added: "I thought he handled it really well."

Ellefson stepped out of the public eye for several months beginning last May, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter. At the time, Ellefson released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of him by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) Within two weeks, he was fired from MEGADETH.

David, a Christian who launched the Mega Life Ministries worship group in 2007, studied for a year at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis a decade ago.

Last October, Ellefson told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that there is a perception that people of faith must set a higher standard of how they live with and treat others. "It's almost like you're this entity that's floating up toward the heavens: 'Oh, he's such a wonderful man. He's a man of faith. He's got his family. And then this happens.' It's, like, 'What the hell is this?'" he said.

"I mean, look, admittedly I've sort of trained the public to think that I'm one of the more well-behaved rock stars out there, and for the most part I have been," he continued. "But at the same time, and this isn't to claim anything other than just, oops, shit happens. That is what it is."

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

In July, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine addressed the possibility of Ellefson returning to the band while filming one of his own video messages on Cameo. Asked by Rock Feed if Ellefson could once again play with MEGADETH at some point down the line, Mustaine said: "Any chance on Ellefson coming back later on? The answer to that is no."