Just days after being dismissed from Megadeth, bassist David Ellefson said he is preparing to file a defamation suit against the unnamed person who recently leaked sexually explicit photos and video of him.
“Recently, a very private video was illegally posted on the internet and false allegations were made against me,” Ellefson reportedly said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “The actions in the video were between two consenting adults and were recorded without my knowledge. I am working with Scottsdale Police Department in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted this video. Also, my lawyers are preparing a defamation lawsuit to be filed against this person. This person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
At press time Ellefson, 56, had not named the person who leaked the images, which led to his dismissal from the band he co-founded in 1983 and performed with until their break-up in 2002 and then for another 11 years until his ouster. In the statement, the bassist said he’s taking time off with his family and wished his former band well on their upcoming tour.
“While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed is enough to make working together impossible moving forward,” the band said in a statement on Monday (May 24) announcing their split with Ellefson; a spokesperson for Ellefson could not be reached for comment at press time.
Rolling Stone reported that a spokesperson for the Scottsdale Police Dept. confirmed that Ellefson met with police on Wednesday (May 26). Ellefson’s actions come just weeks after he posted a statement from the woman he said was the recipient of his sexually explicit messages, in which she appeared to debunk rumors surrounding the images.
“I’m the girl people are talking about in the posts about David Ellefson right now and I just want to tell my side of the story because people are sharing misinformation and the situation is getting out of hand without the truth being out there,” read the statement from the woman’s purported Instagram account, which went private as well after the incident.
Ellefson, 56, a father of two adult children who has been married to wife Julie Foley since 1993, reportedly released a statement addressing the issue on his official Instagram page — which was made private, in which he described the messages as “private, adult interactions that were taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation, my career and my family,” that he said were released with “ill intention by a third party who was not authorized to have them or share them.”
The woman appeared to confirm that the video calls between them did take place, but that she was the one to initiate them and that she was never underage when they took place. “I was always a consenting adult,” she reportedly said. “Nothing inappropriate ever happened before that. It was all consensual, I’m not a victim and I have not been groomed in the slightest as I was the one to initiate it. I was just naive enough to record him and share it with a friend without his permission. In the end, it was all consensual and all online.”
Megadeth will kick off their Metal Tour of the Year with Lamb of God on Aug. 20 in Austin, Texas and have not yet announced a replacement for Ellefson.
