Pioneering and Grammy-Award winning thrash metal band – Megadeth has just fired their longtime bassist and co-founder David Ellefson over sexual misconduct allegations.

This is the second time they have fired him. The first time he was kicked out was in 2004/2005, while rejoining in 2010.

Fans from all across the world pour mix reactions over the news. Some says it as a perfect judgement for the crime, while others saying it a set-up done to frame the musician.

The news was published yesterday on the band’s website and other official social media platforms. The following post was written by frontman and guitarist Dave Mustaine.

The incident happened two weeks ago, on May -10, 2021; when sexually explicit videos of the bassist self attaining were posted on Twitter. The videos, recorded in 2020 by a fan that Ellefson was in correspondence with, initially led to accusations of child grooming. However, Ellefson and the other party both denied the accusations and claimed that it was consensual adult conduct. 

Ellefson denied the allegations on his Instagram account, which has now been made private, according to Variety, calling the messages

“Private, adult interactions that were taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation, my career and family.”

He also shared a statement allegedly from the woman in the messages stating she was not underage at the time. According to the statement, the woman involved was

“Always a consenting adult … In the end, it was all consensual and all online.”

Also, the woman with whom the incident happened also posted a tweet which was posted by David in his Instagram. She asked everyone to stop posting these videos.

Megadeth was formed back in 1983 with David Ellefson and Dave Mustaine as the founding members. They have released their first album on June 12, 1985 titled Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!

The band has currently been working on their sixteenth studio album The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! which is due to be released this year.