The late drummer Joey Jordison's estate is suing Slipknot for allegedly making money off of his passing.
In June, a complaint was filed accusing the heavy metal group of utilizing his name and personal items for their traveling festival, Knotsfest, and that they "lined their pockets with profit off of Jordison's devoted fanbase."
Jordison, who was 46 years old when he passed away in July 2021, was fired from the "Snuff" gang in 2013.
Frontman Corey Taylor and percussionist Shawn "Clown" Crahan are named in the lawsuit, which claims they broke a "written agreement" to return all of Jordison's belongings.
It read, "After abruptly kicking Jordison out of Slipknot in 2013, [Corey] Taylor and Crahan expressly promised in a written agreement to return all of Jordison's belongings in exchange for Jordison's promise to release certain claims against them.
"The agreement contained a non-exclusive list of broad categories of items that [Taylor and Crahan] represented were in their possession and that they would return to Jordison. [Taylor and Crahan] purported to comply with the agreement by returning certain items to Jordison but, unbeknownst to Jordison, [they] had executed the agreement with no intention of performing their obligations thereunder, and knowingly concealed from Jordison that they possessed numerous other items belonging to Jordison that they never returned to him."
The paper continued by detailing Jordison's severe termination and asserting that the two "handsomely profited" on his attempts to turn Slipknot into a "metal sensation".
It continued, "The callousness of Jordison's firing and other mistreatment at the hands of Crahan and Taylor have been widely reported and criticised by fans of the band. Since the 1990s, Jordison had dedicated his life to making Slipknot a metal sensation, from which Crahan and Taylor handsomely profited. It made no sense why Crahan and Taylor would treat Jordison with such disdain, especially in light of Jordison's declining health."
The couple allegedly told a "blatant lie" when they said they had reached out to the family to send their condolences after Jordison passed away, according to the estate.
The lawsuit went on to say, "Perhaps worst of all, Crahan and Taylor publicly lied to fans that they had contacted Jordison's family to check on them and express their condolences and love for Jordison in the wake of his passing. This was utterly false, and deeply upsetting for Jordison's family to read such a blatant lie on the internet. It is clear that Taylor and Crahan did not actually care about Jordison or his family; they cared only about drumming up publicity and sales of the new album."
Slipknot has requested that the case be dropped and has refuted every accusation brought against them.
"Defendants generally deny each and every allegation and purported claim set forth in Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint and further deny that Plaintiff is entitled to any relief whatsoever," stated a statement from their legal representative.
In 2021, after the passing of Jordan, according to a statement from his family, the drummer died quietly while sleeping.
They stated that they were left with "empty hearts and feelings of indescribable sorrow" upon his death, although they did not disclose the cause of death.
One of the original members of Slipknot, Jordison formed the group in 1995 with bassist Paul Gray and percussionist Shawn Crahan.
Four years later, the group's breakthrough self-titled debut album was released. The group went on to win a Grammy, achieve mainstream US chart success, and sell millions of albums worldwide.
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