Slipknot do not want to be dealing with a lawsuit by a (now former) member, but that's exactly the hole they find themselves in currently.
The band is being sued by Chris Fehn over what Fehn claims are shady business practices. He claims that money from the band's earnings has always been sent to one company, which then split the profits among the band. Now, Fehn is claiming some members of the band, namely Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan, "set up several other Slipknot affiliated business entities in different states that appear to be collecting money from the band."
Fehn has launched a lawsuit to get Slipknot's books audited and get his due coming to him.
This morning, Slipknot announced that Fehn is officially out of the band. Taylor hasn't said much on Twitter, but responding to a fan today, he claimed to be wrongfully accused:
You think that’s dickish, try being wrongfully accused of stealing money from someone you cared about, and having a lot of your fans believe it.
Good Morning, by the way.— Corey Taylor (@CoreyTaylorRock) March 18, 2019
Interestingly, a thread popped up on the Slipknot Reddit this weekend, which shows a screenshot of a now deleted Facebook post by former Slipknot guitarist Donnie Steele. Donnie was one of the founding guitarists of the band, but left the project before their debut album. Donnie returned to the fold after the 2010 death of bassist Paul Grey, playing Grey's parts offstage.
In the screenshot, Steele writes "Don't blame him…," and a fan responds saying if Steele is talking about Fehn, the fan couldn't agree more. Steele responds to the fan saying "Nobody likes to get lied to and ripped off," and added "and most, MOST of them can't write. In the three years I toured with them, I actually spent more time in writing sessions and the studio then I did on the road. All done behind other members [sic] back. That's how they roll." That is quite an accusation by Steele.
Steele has since deleted the post and the comments, but multiple people on Reddit vouched for seeing it firsthand.
We'll keep you posted with more updates on this developing story. For now, here is a video recap of the events that happened so far:
