David Ellefson, the former Megadeth bassist, is looking to file a lawsuit against the individual who uploaded explicit videos of him online.  Earlier this month, leaked footage of what Ellefson called “personal conversations and interactions” were posted on Twitter by an anonymous user. The bassist has repeatedly denied suggestions that he had ‘groomed’ an underage fan, but admitted on Instagram that “private, adult interactions” had taken place, which he claimed were “taken out of context and manipulated to inflict maximum damage to my reputation, my career and family.”  The woman involved also came forward to deny the suggestion that she was underage at the time the video calls took place, to say that she initiated their online interactions, and also to deny that she was ‘groomed‘ by Ellefson.  “I was always a consenting adult,” she stated. “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.”

As a direct consequence of the controversy over the leaked footage, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine announced earlier this week that the group were parting ways with Ellefson, who originally joined the band in 1983. “While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed now is enough to make working together impossible moving forward,” Mustaine wrote.