A legendary heavy metal guitarist has filed a lawsuit against the band he co-founded.
Mick Mars sued Mötley Crüe for what he claims is the band forming a campaign to kick him out of the group and remove him from his ownership in the band’s company after he retired from touring last year.
Mars’ attorney Edwin McPherson filed the lawsuit on behalf of the guitarist in Los Angeles County’s Superior Court on Thursday, Variety reported.
“It is beyond sad that, after 41 years together, a band would try to throw out a member who is unable to tour anymore because he has a debilitating disease,” McPherson told CNN. “Mick has been pushed around for far too long in this band, and we are not going to let that continue.”
Mars, 71, who was born Robert Alan Deal, announced in October he would no longer tour with the band due to Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.).
The inflammatory disease he has had since he was 27 had caused too much pain for him to continue to perform.
During his announcement last fall, Mars said he would continue to be a member of the band despite not touring with them, a sentiment the remaining members of the group assured their fans.
Before his retirement, Mars had served as the band’s lead guitarist since its inception in 1981.
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The lawsuit alleges the other band members, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, and Vince Neil, were deliberately holding out important information pertaining to the band’s other companies and Mars’ 25% ownership stake.
Mars also claims the band demanded he sign a severance agreement that would rid him of the other companies in exchange for a 5% stake in the 2023 “The World Tour” the band is currently on, according to the outlet.
The suit read the other members held an emergency meeting “in order to throw Mars out of the band, to fire him as a director of the corporation, to fire him as an officer of the corporation, and to take away his shares of the corporation.”
“After the last tour, Mick publicly resigned from Mötley Crüe,” the band’s attorney Sasha Frid told Variety on Thursday. “Despite the fact that the band did not owe Mick anything — and with Mick owing the band millions in advances that he did not pay back — the band offered Mick a generous compensation package to honor his career with the band.”
In a statement obtained by CNN, Frid called Mars’ suit “unfortunate and completely off-base” while referring to a 2008 contract signed by the members stating “any resigning shareholder be entitled to receive any monies attributable to live performances (i.e., tours).”
The filing also alleges some songs performed live were done so with pre-recorded music, while bassist Nikki Sixx had “gaslighted” Mars, making the guitarist believe he was playing bad due to cognitive decline, CNN reported.
The lawsuit counteracts those claims saying that Mars’ errors were due to his in-ear monitors “constantly malfunctioning, causing him to be unable to hear his own instrument.”
“Sad day for us and we don’t deserve this considering how many years we’ve been propping him up,” Sixx said in a statement to his Twitter account. “We still wish him the best and hope he find’s lawyers and managers who aren’t damaging him. We love you Mick.”
