Axl Rose sued by former Guns N' Roses member Chris Pitman
Ex-Guns N’ Roses multi-instrumentalist Chris Pitman has hit Axl Rose with a $163,000 (£123k) lawsuit over alleged unpaid wages.
Pitman, who joined Guns N’ Roses in 1998 and co-penned two songs on ‘Chinese Democracy’, claims that Axl promised him $125,000 in wages in 2011 but couldn’t afford the cash at the time.
Now that the ‘classic’ Guns N’ Roses is raking in tens of millions on their gargantuan Not in This Lifetime... Tour, Pitman is seeking to recoup his salary from half a decade ago with interest added on top.
According to the lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Pitman alleges that Axl promised to pay up in October 2012 but didn’t.
During his 18-year tenure with Guns N’ Roses, Pitman served as a keyboardist, bassist, percussionist, programmer and backing vocalist.
He was omitted from the Guns N’ Roses line-up earlier this year and took to Twitter to blast it as a “cash grab” and “nostalgia trip” in a stinging tirade.
Despite apologising he then dubbed Axl, Slash and Duff as an “oldies band” who simply want to regurgitate “30-year-old music over and over.”
The $163,000 lawsuit is likely to be small change for Axl - the Not in This Lifetime... Tour has raked in £88million and counting...