David Ellefson commented on his dismissal from Megadeth , which happened about a year ago, after a sex scandal involving him and his extramarital affairs with a young woman went viral on the internet.
In June 2021, a leak of explicit videos sent to a teenage fan was anonymously made public. The person responsible for the leak accused Ellefson of pedophilia and corruption of minors , since the conversations with the teenager began when she was only 17 years old, in 2019.
At the time, the musician denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the explicit text messages were between consenting adults and that the woman was not a minor at the time.
During an interview with Real Music With Gary Stuckey , Ellefson spoke about being fired. "You find out who your friends are and who aren't pretty quickly when the shit hits the fan, because everyone wants to be around you when you're getting your Grammy," he stated.
“Look, life is… you’re never on top all the time. Your life comes and goes, your career comes and goes – all of that. I was lucky enough to be a career musician and I had to go through the ebb and flow of the good, the bad and the other, sometimes from within, sometimes from without,” he continued.
Dave Mustaine says he's "happier" without David Ellefson in Megadeth.
In an interview with Rolling Stone , Dave Mustaine didn't want to talk much about the case and refused to call Ellefson by name, referring to him only as "our former bassist".
“With everything that’s happened in the last 10, 20 years in my relationship with our former bassist, the time has come to… It’s very uncomfortable to talk about this,” Dave Mustaine began. “It was difficult having to part ways with him. But I’m happier today than I’ve ever been.”
At the time of his departure, David Ellefson had already recorded some songs for Megadeth's new album, The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!, but his parts were re-recorded by Testament Steve Di Giorgio , whom Dave Mustaine refers to in the interview as "a very talented musician". On stage, Ellefson was replaced by James LoMenzo .