David Ellefson has left his band Megadeth after he was accused of being sexually inappropriate with a minor. Dave Mustaine made an announcement through the band’s Twitter account and claimed that they did not “take this decision lightly.”

Many Megadeth fans were upset and commented that they disagree with the decision.

On May 10, two sexually explicit videos of the bassist were leaked by an anonymous third party on the web and Twitter. Screenshots showed an intimate conversation between Ellefson and a fan.

Ellefson spoke up about the incident through his now-private Instagram and assured everyone that the girl he was talking to was not underage and everything they did was consensual. The girl involved also came forward and confirmed that she is of age.

“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,” he wrote. “The other party involved made a statement which you can see… I thank her for doing so and hope that this clarifies that the situation was not at all as presented.”

Ellefson has a wife of 27 years and two adult children. The woman who was involved in the incident wrote in her statement that she recorded and “initiated” the video calls.

“Never was I underage,” she said. “I was always a consenting adult. Nothing inappropriate ever happened before that.”

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