This past weekend, David Ellefson performed live for the first time since being fired from MEGADETH, taking the stage at the Chiller Theatre convention at the Hilton Parsippany in Parsippany, New Jersey.
The 56-year-old bassist, who was promoting his found-footage horror film “Dwellers” at the event, joined THE DEAD ELVI, the Chiller Theatre house band which performs original music and serves as the backup group for musical guests on Saturday nights, to play a cover version of the Alice Cooper classic “I’m Eighteen”.
Fan-filmed video footage of Ellefson‘s appearance with THE DEAD ELVI can be seen below.
Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH six months ago, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter. At the time, Ellefson released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he “groomed” an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of him by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual “masturbating encounters” without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.) Ellefson, who lives in Scottsdale, first became aware of the video on May 9, when the claim “David Ellefson of MEGADETH is a pedophile” appeared on Instagram. Ellefson told police he was notified on May 14 by MEGADETH that the band would be parting ways with him. Three days later, he was fired.
Two days after MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine announced Ellefson‘s latest departure from the band, the bassist released a follow-up statement in which he vowed to file a “defamation lawsuit” against the person who “illegally posted a very private video” of the bassist and made “false allegations” against him. He also said he was working with the police in Scottsdale “in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted the video. This person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Ellefson wrote. He went on to say that he was “taking this time to be with my family” and wished his “bandmates” the best with their tour.
Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band’s inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.
