Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx has responded to the lawsuit brought against the band by their former guitarist, Mick Mars. Mars — real name is Robert Alan Deal — is suing the band after he was forced to retire last October due to his ongoing struggle with Ankylosing spondylitis, a form of spinal arthritis. Mars claims, however, that the band kicked him out, and has cut his percentage of profits from 25% to 5%. Mars also accused Sixx of “gaslighting” him about his deteriorating guitar skills, alleging in return that the bassist didn’t “play a single note on bass” during a recent tour. He claimed that all of Sixx’s parts were pre-recorded. However, Mötley Crüe stated in a follow-up report that Mars quit after “struggling to remember chords, playing the wrong songs.” (their full statement can be found here.)

Mars didn’t hold back when discussing his former Crüe bandmates in a new interview with Variety, saying “I carried those bastards for years … Those guys have been hammering on me since ’87, trying to replace me. They haven’t been able to do that, because I’m the guitar player. I helped form this band. It’s my name I came up with [the Mötley Crüe moniker], my ideas, my money that I had from a backer to start this band … The thing that they keep pushing, for many years, is that I have a bad memory. And that’s full-blown, out-of-proportion crap. Around 2012, when they first started saying that my memory was bad and I didn’t remember the songs, I came home and saw all my doctors, because I keep myself together, because I’m an old bastard. They had all the 10th Street people there [from the band’s management] — probably about five or six people — (versus) all my doctors going: ‘There’s nothing wrong with him.’ And now they’re still playing that game with me … So, no, the truth is: I want to retire from touring because of my AS [Ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory, arthritic disease that causes vertebrae to fuse]. I don’t have a problem remembering the songs. I don’t have a problem with any of that stuff. But I do have a problem with them, constantly, the whole time, telling me that I lost my memory. No. Wrong. That’s wrong. Absolutely wrong … But my stupid body is telling me ‘No, don’t do that’ [stay on the road]. You know, I’m gonna be 72 years old, and I’ve been touring with these guys 41 years, helping build the brand, helping do this and that. And you’re served with papers and going, this is crazy. This is stupid. I mean, come on.”

In a tweet, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx shot back at Mars’ accusations. Sixx responded to the Variety report via Twitter: “Sad day for us and we don’t deserve this considering how many years we’ve been propping him up-We still wish him the best and hope he find’s lawyers and managers who aren’t damaging him. We love you Mick -“

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