‘Maybe I Became a Scapegoat’ - Jay Weinberg Still Doesn’t Know Why He Was Fired From Slipknot

Just about every Slipknot fan was shocked when longtime drummer Jay Weinberg (who replaced the late Joey Jordison in 2014) was suddenly and inexplicably fired back in 2023. That said, arguably no one was more surprised by it than Weinberg himself, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, he confirmed that he still doesn’t know why he was fired from the band.

What Jay Weinberg Said About Being Fired From Slipknot

We’ll get into more details about Slipknot parting ways with Weinberg – and what’s happened since – in a bit. Suffice it to say here, though, that the group cryptically announced the decision via social media in November of 2023. Understandably, fans were left speechless, and shortly thereafter, Weinberg reflected that he was “heartbroken and blindsided” to receive the fateful “the phone call” about his dismissal.

During his recent chat with Rolling Stone – published online on April 11 – Weinberg discussed several topics (including his time with Against Me! and selling his gear on Reverb). Naturally, the situation with Slipknot came up, prompting Weinberg to consider why joining the legendary outfit was so exciting: “I was 23 years old. Being in the band for 10 years, that’s nearly a third of my life, and the vast majority of my creative life.”

He then reflected on how he “couldn’t even tell close industry friends” that he was in the band upon getting the gig:

I understood that dynamic of the band because I remember being a fan back in 2000, pre-camera phones, pre-internet largely. There was this mystique surrounding a band like this, honestly. You couldn’t discover any details about the band members. You couldn’t find out what anybody looked like. You could hardly find out anybody’s actual name.

The mystique was certainly appealing and drew a lot of people in, myself included, at a very young age. To capture that energy of this unknowingness, especially in the era of social media and camera phones, was an impressive endeavor. And we kept a lid on it for like a year.

When asked if he felt “like a full member, a hired hand, or something in between,” Weinberg bluntly explained:

If you’re the new guy coming into a band that’s existed for 15 years and developed its identity and dynamic, you’re always going to be the new guy.

I auditioned for the band before the world learned that they were moving on from playing with Joey Jordison. We played together for one day, rehearsed all the old songs, and that was one thing of like, “Okay, he can play the old songs. Now, what can you bring to the creation of things?”

Whether you’re “in the band” or a hired hand, those are just things that put someone in a box that they occupy. I’m comfortable with that. What matters is the work of what you’re doing, the creative endeavors that you’re going on. I recognize my responsibility in helping provide contributions to the creation of a song or album. Those responsibilities fall on me the same way if I’m “in the band” or “not in the band.” It’s all the same work.

My writing partner for my duration of time in the band was largely Jim Root, guitar player. He’d come up with guitar riffs, and I’d provide my contribution and enthusiasm and effort and energy to shape the song going in any direction. That’s what was meaningful to me.

All that stuff falls away when you do the actual important thing, which is creating things in the studio and playing these things on stage. And I found as our relationship deepened, those efforts and responsibilities became greater for me.

After digging a bit deeper into the creations of his debut with Slipknot (2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter) and its follow-up (2019’s We Are Not Your Kind), Weinberg commented on being let go from the band.

Specifically, he began by discussing how in 2018, he discovered – and “notified [Slipknot’s] management” about – his “femoroacetabular impingement, FAI for short, which basically means [he] tore [his] labrum in my hip due to running and kickboxing.”

Weinberg continued:

So I’m approaching the band like, “Hey, we’re not doing anything right now. This would take me six months to recover. Is this something I can do?” And I was asked to not have that corrective surgery because we’ve got a record to make. We got to be on tour, and this and that. So I can’t hold up this operation.

I had been conditioned over years with the ever-present threat of, “You’re always fireable, you’re always replaceable.” With that being reinforced in the environment, it’s difficult to then make decisions based on health because you’re like, “I’m not going to step outside of the bounds of this because I don’t want to disturb the peace and I don’t want to be replaced.”

A “couple of years” later, Weinberg found that “the pain . . . didn’t get better,” and in September of 2023, he noticed that Slipknot “had shows going up until November” but then their “subsequent show . . . was in April of the following year.” So, he “came up with a plan” to “have . . . surgery in November of 2023, pretty much right after the last show of that year.”

After telling the band about his plan – including that he could “create a virtual instrument” with “a company called MixWave” in case Slipknot “want[ed] to be creative in that time” – Weinberg said that he got the go-ahead for the surgery.

However, he “woke up the morning after traveling home from [Slipknot’s] last show together” to a “phone call from the band’s manager” telling him that “the band had made a decision to not renew [his] contract at the end of the year.”

“I was shocked and full of questions. I was like, ‘Why? What happened?’” he added.

Weinberg elaborated:

It took place, to be quite honest, at the end of a year that was a very difficult year within the band. That might relate to some of those preexisting tensions before I arrived at the band, sort of coming back. But I’m left with no explanation, just that “It’s a creative decision and you’re no longer the drummer in Slipknot.” And what he said from there was, “We would like to release a joint statement with you tomorrow. Take the rest of the day to think about it. I’ll be available to you for the rest of the day if you want to talk.”

My world just kind of bottomed out from under me. This thing that I have been dedicated to with complete focus and drive and attention and love and holding on to a dream, despite the difficulties, despite all the things that happen with entering a volatile environment like that and a dark environment at that, to having nothing but questions. So I went on a walk with my wife to clear my head and process what had just happened. And then 20 minutes later, they posted their own statement online.

When asked, “How did you feel about that?” Weinberg answered:

I mean, how would anybody feel about that? It perfectly encapsulates the confusion of that. And like I said, it came after an extraordinarily tense year for the band, things that I could only see as an outsider in relationships that are 25 years deep. It came without an explanation, no reason. It was confusing then. If I’m perfectly honest, it remains confusing.

As a newcomer, I think being caught in between those preexisting tensions, you find yourself trying to navigate that the best you can. One guy has one way he wants things done, another guy wants another way he wants things done, and amplify that by eight other people, to try to satisfy all of those things. This was my singular focus for 10 years. I applied myself in every way possible. As a newcomer, and like you mentioned, you’re like, “Are you in the band? Are you not in the band?” How do you define that after 10 years? It’s not a short amount of time. But it’s easy for a newcomer, for myself, to be caught in the crossfire there. Maybe I became a scapegoat for certain things.

Processing it over the last two years, I’ve wanted to take that experience and obviously learn from it. I want to experience these new things that I’m now taking on, these many collaborations that I’m doing, playing with as many people as possible, and finding these relationships where it’s all so new to me. I’m going into creative environments, say a studio or playing live, where there is love for one another, and respect for one another, in ways that I’ve never experienced before.

There’s a great band . . . [called] King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. I’ve become friends with those guys over the last year and a half. Their drummer Cavs [Michael Cavanagh] came to a show that I played with Infectious Grooves. These guys opened my eyes to what a positive creative environment could feel like with mutual respect. It’s like finding water in the desert. All these new relationships that I’ve formed over the last two years or so feel like that, certainly Suicidal Tendencies falls within that category.

Ultimately, Weinberg concluded that although “the departure from Slipknot was difficult,” he’s “never wanted to be somebody who throws a pity party from themselves."

"I don’t think that’s what a creative person’s life is.”

READ MORE: New Tentative Release Date for Slipknot Members' 'Look Outside Your Window' Revealed

More About Weinberg’s History With – and Departure From – Slipknot

Although plenty of fans were upset about Slipknot moving on without Jordison back in 2013 – 2014, many came to adore what Weinberg brought to the band. After all, he recounted to Music Radar in 2016, he was a childhood fan, and he wanted to treat his audition and initial time with the group “with a delicate, careful respect.”

Weinberg eventually recorded three studio LPs with Slipknot (the aforementioned two plus their latest one, 2022’s The End, So Far). Following the band’s statement about Weinberg’s dismissal – and his initial reaction – drummers such as Tré Cool (Green Day), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and Eloy Casagrande (ex-Sepultura) publicly shared support for Weinberg.

Interestingly enough, and after months of speculation and teases, Casagrande officially left Sepultura to replace Weinberg in Slipknot in 2024. “It’s an exciting moment. Unthinkable until then. There is nothing to lose, there is nothing to win. There is just living. We’re here as one. Thank you Slipknot for trusting me. Thanks all the maggots and fans around the world. See you on the road. Here comes more pain,” he wrote on social media regarding the news.

Meanwhile, Weinberg expounded upon his time in Slipknot about a month after he was fired:

For 19 years, my goals in music and art have always centered around maintaining some sort of forward motion. It feels a bit paradoxical at times to look in the rearview mirror, but some moments and milestones are significant enough to take pause and reflect. . . . The memories and experiences that these four [Slipknot] masks [shown in Weinberg’s social media post] represent, I wouldn’t trade for the world. And I’m honored that you all have been there, every step of the way.

In July of 2024, he revealed that he was seeing a therapist to help him work through “the entire experience.”

Plus, Weinberg joined Suicidal Tendencies in early 2024 (but left in early 2026). As for why he stepped down, and as Loudwire reported at the time, Weinberg “revealed that the birth of his first child later this year” was a factor, as was his interest in “spending more time on passion projects and collaborations.”

Other Slipknot News

Back in February, Loudwire covered the news that “Slipknot's long-awaited Look Outside Your Window album is finally arriving, but not under the band's name and in a manner that comes as a bit of a surprise.”

Specifically, and as Loudwire later reported, 2300 vinyl copies will be available for Record Store Day on April 18.

Loudwire added: “The release is self titled, so they are not sharing it as an actual Slipknot record. Shawn 'Clown' Crahan, Corey Taylor, Jim Root and Sid Wilson worked on the material that would become Look Outside Your Window while Slipknot were in the studio recording All Hope Is Gone in the late 2000s.”

For more information on the LP, be sure to check out our timeline feature on everything we know about Look Outside Your Window.

How do you feel about what Weinberg said? Do you wish he were still in Slipknot? Let us know!