The Fleetwood Mac feud has been blown open in a pretty huge way. In a new interview Lindsey Buckingham basically blamed his firing on Stevie Nicks and the band’s manager Irving Azoff, and both have now fired back.
In the interview with the “Los Angeles Times,” Lindsey says that after the band’s 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year honoring, Stevie gave the band an ultimatum, that either he was gone or she was going. “It would be like a scenario where Mick Jagger says, ‘Either Keith [Richards] goes or I go,’” he said. “No, neither one of you can go. But I guess the singer has to stay. The figurehead has to stay.” He claims she wanted to remake the band “more in the Stevie Nicks vein.” (In an interview with Rolling Stone he added that his bandmates cowered to Stevie, noting "It became a little bit like Trump and the Republicans.”)
But Stevie responded to Lindsey’s accusations calling it “revisionist history.” “His version of events is factually inaccurate,” she shares. “To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired, I did not ask for him to be fired, I did not demand he be fired.” She says she actually “fired myself,” noting, “I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my wellbeing. I was done.” She argues she would have been fine if the band went on without her, but “after many lengthy group discussions, Fleetwood Mac, a band whose legacy is rooted in evolution and change, found a new path forward with two hugely talented new members.”
- Lindsey says things got bad because Stevie allowed things to “slip away from her,” including her “creativity” and her “level of energy," suggesting she was jealous of him. He also blamed it on her being “alone.” “She’s lonely. She’s alone,” he says. “She has the people who work for her, and I’m sure she has friends, but you know.”
- Stevie also responded to that, saying it was her decision to focus on her career, rather than marriage and children. “Those are my decisions that I get to make for myself,” she says. “I’m proud of the life choices I’ve made and it seems a shame for him to pass judgment on anyone who makes a choice to live their life on their own terms.”
- Meanwhile, Lindsey also blamed his firing on the band’s manager Irving Azoff, who he claims was “driven by money,” and he too fought back, noting, “it’s challenging for Lindsey to accept his own role in these matters and far easier to blame a manager,” adding, “the fact remains that his actions alone are responsible for what transpired. Frankly, if I can be accused of anything it’s perhaps holding things together longer than I should have.” As for the money accusation, he shares, “While financial gain was not a motivator for me, it was a delightful bonus that the band scored their highest grossing tour ever without Lindsey.”
Source:Los Angeles Times
photo: Getty Images