Former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg has opened up regarding his firing from the band in 2023 in an interview with Rolling Stone.
Weinberg had joined the masked metallers in 2014 in place of original drummer Joey Jordison. In announcing Weinberg’s departure, Slipknot put out a statement calling the move a “creative decision.”
Weinberg tells Rolling Stone that leading up to his firing he was trying to find time to schedule a surgery to repair a torn hip labrum. He says he got the OK from Slipknot to undergo the surgery in November 2023 after they finished a tour.
“They were like, ‘Yeah, good to go. Go for your surgery,'” Weinberg says. “And then I woke up the morning after traveling home from our last show together, and I received a phone call from the band’s manager in which he informed me that the band had made a decision to not renew my contract at the end of the year. I was shocked and full of questions. I was like, ‘Why? What happened?'”
According to Weinberg, the ‘Knot’s manager told him the band wanted to put out a joint statement with him the next day.
“I went on a walk with my wife to clear my head and process what had just happened,” Weinberg says. “And then 20 minutes later, they posted their own statement online.”
Reflecting on the firing now, Weinberg says, “It came without an explanation, no reason.”
“It was confusing then,” Weinberg says. “If I’m perfectly honest, it remains confusing.”
He adds, “Maybe I became a scapegoat for certain things.”
Weinberg has since launched a solo career and has released two songs.
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