Axl Rose and Slash haven’t spoken in almost two decades since Slash quit Guns ‘N’ Roses in 1996. There was always tension between the two, but no one has ever really known what the final straw was … until now. In an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil, the band’s former manager Doug Goldstein says that Michael Jackson might partially be to blame. According to Goldstein, Axl was unhappy with Slash after he agreed to perform with Michael Jackson at a tribute concert.
“I told him not to do it because Axl was molested by his father when he was two and he believed the charges against Michael Jackson. So I asked Slash, ‘How much are you receiving?’ … and he said, ‘I’ll just receive a big screen television.’ When Axl found out Slash was going to play with Michael Jackson and that the payment was a big screen TV, he was devastated. He thought Slash would support him and be against all abuse. From Axl’s point of view, that was the only problem. He could ignore the drugs and the alcohol, but never the child abuse.”
But Goldstein says that if Slash were to apologize to Axl, there’s a chance the band could reunite. “I really believe that for how much I love the band, I’d be the manager to reunite them,” he says. We won’t hold our breath.
