Following a lawsuit filed by Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars against the rest of the band, reps and lawyers on both sides have been flooding the press with accusations. For starters, in response to Mars’ allegation that the group’s recent performances have all been done with backing tracks, the band’s longtime manager Allen Kovac tells Variety that Mars is trying to “gain leverage in a smear campaign on Mötley.” He also accuses Mars’ representatives of “taking advantage of him,” adding, “it’s called elder abuse.”

Kovac adds: “He’s attacked the band, and he’s done it in a slanderous way, with false accusations and misrepresenting the facts to the fans. Mick is not the victim. The victims are Mötley Crüe and the brand, which Mick is so prideful of.”

The band’s manager continues: “What’s upsetting to me is not Mick, but his representatives, who have guided Mick to say and do harmful things to the brand he cares about so much, Mötley Crüe. He has a degenerative disease and people are taking advantage of him. It’s called elder abuse… Mick’s representatives have no idea what they’ve created, but I’ve stopped the band from speaking about this, so they’re not gonna turn the fans against Mick. But I am going to make sure that people understand that Mick hasn’t been treated badly. In fact, he was treated better than anyone else in the band, and they carried him and they saved his life.”

For context, Mars retired from touring last year due to his health condition ankylosing spondylitis, but he has staunchly denied having any memory issues, calling that accusation “full-blown, out-of-proportion crap.”

Additionally, it looks as if Mötley Crüe is back in the studio, contrary to what their lawyers told Variety last week about how “the band’s primary function is to tour and perform concerts,” aka their reasoning for cutting Mars out of future profits. On Thursday, Nikki Sixx posted photos of the band in the studio with new guitarist John 5, with the caption “Another killer songwriting day.” Sixx later added, “We are writing.The creative process of songwriting has always been the heartbeat of our band. We’re gonna go in the big studio next week and record a few off the floor and see where it goes. We don’t have a definitive plan at this point.Just letting the songs guide us.”

In other Mötley Crüe news, drummer Tommy Lee stepped in it this week when he reposted a transphobic clip from the far-right news outlet OAN. After getting blowback online (Questlove commented, “OAN tho? #Unfollow”), Lee took the post down and wrote an explanation, though came short of an apology: “I deleted my ‘controversial’ post because I am in no way transphobic or agains the LGBTQ+ community or any fucking community … shit, I’m the gayest motherfucker.”

https://twitter.com/NikkiSixx/status/1646550098242048000

https://twitter.com/NikkiSixx/status/1646553893332201478