Kerry King Unironically Suggests Dave Mustaine “Can’t Help But Stick His Foot In His Mouth”

Pot meet kettle. That’s the first thing that came to mind when I read Slayer guitarist and solo career haver Kerry King comment on Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine‘s penchant for saying some stupid shit. Is he wrong? Not in the slightest — have you heard Mustaine’s political takes or his feelings on Metallica or some other commentary the dude’s made over the years? But let’s be real; when it comes to saying things that might cause problems down the road, Kerry King’s pretty damn good at that too.

During an appearance on the Lipps Service With Scott Lipps podcast (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), King looked back on seeing Metallica for the first time back in 1982 when Mustaine was still a member of the band.

“When I first saw ’em with Mustaine, I was sitting kind of between [Metallica frontman] James [Hetfield] And [then-Metallica bassist Ron] Mcgovney in where the audience is, and I was just blown away watching Mustaine just ripping on guitar and not even looking at his fingers. I’m, like, ‘I can’t do that.’ And to this day, he’s a badass guitar player. But that’s what I walked away from Metallica [thinking]. And he wrote tons of the riffs in the early days. So, when he branched off into Megadeth, a lot of the riffs went with him.”

That’s some pretty complimentary commentary on Mustaine as a player, but then he commented on how he can only take the Megadeth frontman in short bursts.

“Mustaine’s cool, but Mustaine’s one of those guys that he can’t help but stick his foot in his mouth. So, I’ll take my 20 minutes and I’ll bolt just before anything gets uncomfortable.”

That’s coming from the guy that’s said some ‘foot in mouth’ worthy stuff over the years too. I mean, he swore that Slayer would never play again. He’s also the guy that said Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson should play him in a film because their physiques match somehow. And how just prior to the Slayer reunion announcement, Dave Lombardo was “dead” to him and he revealed to the world that hadn’t spoken to Tom Araya since 2019.

Regardless, both dudes have shared the stage in recent years, so maybe all that’s just a case of knowing how to interact with someone after decades of running in the same circles.