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Ex-Megadeth’s David Ellefson Reacts to Hate He Receives Online, Opens Up on How He Deals With It

After the controversial leaked private video exchange with a fan, David Ellefson was not only fired from Megadeth but also got a ton of questions regarding this incident. Of course, other things from the past impact the trend as they’re, once again, getting into the spotlight. One of the latest of these questions was in his interview on The Chuck Shute Podcast where he was asked about the negative online attention he has been getting during the past year or so. He replied (transcript via Blabbermouth):

“First of all, I never read any of that stuff, so I just stay completely… [NFL quarterback] Tom Brady had a good thing. Somebody asked him, they said, ‘Do you ever read the ‘Monday Morning Quarterback’, what they say about you?’ He goes, ‘God no. I would never be able to play the game next week, ’cause someone would be in my head.'”

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“Jeff Young [Ex-Megadeth guitarist]  told me that, that [actress] Meg Ryan had [the same attitude]. She goes, ‘I never read the interviews. I never read the press. I never read anything about it, ’cause I don’t want some fan or some critic being in my head about what I should or shouldn’t do in my next role.'”

“And I thought that was great. At some point, you’ve gotta be a little detached from that stuff. It’s just, like, hey, man, I pick up my bass, I write a song, I call my buddies, we make an album. That’s what it is. We put it out.”

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David also adds:

“When you’re making the album, it’s your album, but once you put it out, it now becomes [the people’s] album. And of course there’s gonna be critics; there’s gonna be those who love or hate. I look at movies. I usually like most of the movies that critics hate. [Laughs]

“I go see movies all the time, and it’s, like, ‘Oh, the critics gave it a bad [review].’ It’s, like, I don’t give a shit. I’m not going to the movie with him. I could care less what he says. I’m going to have my own experience with it. Same with records — I download ’em, I put ’em on to have my own experience with ’em.

He summed it up by saying:

“Look, it is the entertainment business, man, so they all keep us entertained.”

Photos: Carter Sterling (David Ellefson)

Author

  • David Slavkovic

    David always planned for music to be nothing more than a hobby. However, after a short career as an agricultural engineer he ended up news editor at KillerGuitarRigs, senior editor at Ultimate-Guitar.com, as well as a freelance contributor to online magazines such as GuitaristNextdoor.