The feud between Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham continues

Virgin Radio

10 Sep 2021, 15:16

Stevie Nicks has hit back at her former Fleetwood Mac bandmate and ex-partner, Lindsey Buckingham, after he reignited their row by blaming her for his firing from the band. 

When talking to the LA Times about being ousted from Fleetwood Mac three years ago, Buckingham said: “It would be like a scenario where Mick Jagger says, ‘Either Keith [Richards] goes or I go.' No, neither one of you can go. But I guess the singer has to stay. The figurehead has to stay.”

Speaking further about the rift in the interview, the 71-year-old said: “I think she saw the possibility of remaking the band more in the Stevie Nicks vein... More mellow and kind of down, giving her more chances to do the kind of talking she does onstage.”

According to The Guardian, Buckingham also told Rolling Stone: “I think others in the band just felt that they were not empowered enough individually, for whatever their own reasons, to stand up for what was right. And so it became a little bit like Trump and the Republicans.”

Buckingham’s comments have, unsurprisingly, prompted a response from Stevie Nicks. Through her publicist, she told the LA Times: “Following an exceedingly difficult time with Lindsey at MusiCares [award show] in New York in 2018, I decided for myself that I was no longer willing to work with him.”

Nicks continued: “We could start in 1968 and work up to 2018 with a litany of very precise reasons why I will not work with him. 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. Frankly, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my wellbeing. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it.” 

The statement went on: “And 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.”

Meanwhile, Buckingham has also criticised Fleetwood Mac’s manager, Irving Azoff, saying that he was "driven by the money" when it came to removing him from the band.

Azoff responded in a statement: “I have historically declined comment on artists, but in the case of Lindsey Buckingham, I will make an exception.

“While I understand it’s challenging for Lindsey to accept his own role in these matters and far easier to blame a manager, the fact remains that his actions alone are responsible for what transpired.”

The manager also said: “If I can be accused of anything it’s perhaps holding things together longer than I should have.”

It doesn’t look like this row is going to be resolved any time soon, does it?