During a recent appearance on “The MetalSucks Podcast,” Dee Snider weighted in on David Ellefson‘s recent sex scandal.
“Creatives are damaged goods by definition. We choose to be actors, performers, writers, artists, painters, comedians, all those things, because we’re damaged. And that’s driven us to find these outlets. I don’t know why people are so shocked when the evidence of that damage shows itself,” Snider said. When Dave [Ellefson] from MEGADETH gets caught masturbating [on video], well… First of all, you know a lot of you are doing the same thing.
“But second of all, he’s a musician. He’s not a priest,” Snider continued. “You can’t expect him to be priest-like; hell, you can’t expect a priest to be priest-like. But people are so shocked. And I don’t get why the art is thrown away with the artist. If we found out that Michelangelo [the Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet] was a pedophile, would we stop going to the Sistine Chapel [in Rome]. Would we paint it over? It’s no longer good art because the painter turned out to be a pedophile? I’m saying it hypothetically.”
“All arists and creatives have got some skeletons in their closets, and suddenly the skeleton is shown and we’re, like, ‘Well, he’s not funny anymore.’ ‘He’s not a good actor anymore.’ ‘Kevin Spacey, we can’t watch his movies anymore.’ He’s one of the great actors of his time, but he’s dead because he was… And I’m not saying he was right. But he’s a damaged, broken person — he always was. It’s what made him a great artist. I just don’t get that we throw away the baby with the bathwater, as the saying goes.
“I’m not saying making excuses or whatever. I’m [just talking] about the art being dismissed, thrown out, devalued and disqualified because the artist turned out to be a fallible human being. And people should be very careful. Most of us live in glass houses.
Snider added: “When I went to [testify before] the Senate back in the ’80s [against the proposition to have warning labels be placed on albums deemed ‘offensive’ to listeners], they talked to me like I was the scum of the earth. Well, cut to all these years later, I’m still married and the Gores [Al and Tipper] are divorced. One of their kids was busted for possession. None of my kids have been busted. Maybe they just got lucky. But the fact of the matter is — judge not, lest ye be judged.”
As previously reported, MEGADETH longtime bassist David Ellefson was fired from the group last month after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the 56-year-old musician leaked.
Dave Mustaine recently confirmed that David Ellefson‘s long-completed bass tracks on the upcoming MEGADETH album have been removed and re-recorded by another bassist prior to the record’s release.
