Stevie Nicks makes first statement on Lindsey Buckingham’s firing from Fleetwood Mac

Lis Sinatra

While he seems to have since patched things up with Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham was fired from Fleetwood Mac in 2018, and he filed a lawsuit against his former bandmates at the time, saying that "not a single member of the band" told him about his firing. Instead, Buckingham says that manager Irving Azoff told him "Stevie never wants to be on a stage with you again." Stevie has now addressed the situation publicly for the first time. Asked for a comment by Rolling Stone, she said:

It’s unfortunate that Lindsey has chosen to tell a revisionist history of what transpired in 2018 with Fleetwood Mac. His version of events is factually inaccurate, and while I’ve never spoken publicly on the matter, preferring to not air dirty laundry, certainly it feels the time has come to shine a light on the truth. Following an exceedingly difficult time with Lindsey at MusiCares in New York, in 2018, I decided for myself that I was no longer willing to work with him. I could publicly reflect on the many reasons why, and perhaps I will do that someday in a memoir, but suffice it to say 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 well-being. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it. I have championed independence my whole life, and I believe every human being should have the absolute freedom to set their boundaries of what they can and cannot work with. 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.

Rolling Stone published the statement in their new interview with Buckingham, ahead of the release of his new self-titled solo album, which is out later this month. In the interview, he blames his new album, which was already recorded, for his dismissal from the band, saying that he asked for their tour to be delayed so he could release it and play shows. He thought they were still debating the issue when Azoff told him he was out.

He also blames Stevie, telling Rolling Stone, "I think she wanted to shape the band in her own image, a more mellow thing, and if you look at the last tour, I think that’s true."

"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," Buckingham continued to Rolling Stone. "And so, it became a little bit like Trump and the Republicans."

Read the interview in full on Rolling Stone.

Meanwhile, Buckingham had more to say about his former bandmates, and why he thinks they wouldn't stand up to Stevie and insist he stay in the band, in another new interview, with Los Angeles Times. Mick Fleetwood, he told the Times, "never quite gotten to the point where he’s financially stable all the time. He’s been married and divorced many times. He’s just not smart with his money." As for Christine McVie, Buckingham told Los Angeles times she sent him an email that read, "I’m really sorry that I didn’t stand up for you, but I just bought a house."

Read that interview in full on Los Angeles Times, and stream Buckingham's latest single, "I Don't Mind," below.