Megadeth bassist David Ellefson responded to allegations this morning that surfaced over the weekend that he groomed an underage fan. Over the weekend, a video surfaced of Ellefson's interactions with the fan.
The accusations were first made by Instagram user woahworst, including text exchanges and video calls, some of which were explicit.
Ellefson has been married to his wife, Julie Foley, for 27 years and a Lutheran pastor, so naturally you can see how this is awkward. Ellefson has gotten ahead of the story and released a statement this morning denying the grooming allegations.
Ellefson says the "certainly embarrassing" leaked materials were not something he was proud of, but stresses that the footage was "taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation my career and family."
Ellefson included a screenshot from the woman he is being accused of grooming. The woman wrote on social media "Yes, those video calls did happen but I was the one to initiate them, and never was I underage, I was always a consenting adult.”
Her full statement reads “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.
“Yes, those video calls did happen, but I was the one to initiate them and never was I underage, I was always a consenting adult. 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.
“I don’t know how it got to this point, but a lot of information is being left out by the people purposely trying to harm him.
“I would ask that anyone sharing these personal private videos or any misinformation about them to please stop.”
Here is Ellefson's full statement:
“Dear Fans & Friends,
“As you may or not know, some private and personal conversations and interactions have surfaced online, released with ill intention by a third party who was not authorized to have them or share them. While certainly embarrassing, I want to address it as openly and honestly as possible.
“As much as it’s not something I’m proud of, these were private, adult interactions that were taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation my career and family.
“The other party involved has made a statement which you can see below. I thank her for doing so and hope that this clarifies that the situation was not at all as presented.
“Humbly Yours,
“David Ellefson”
