The Who’s Pete Townshend has apologized for comments he made about his late bandmates Keith Moon and John Entwistle.
In an interview with Rolling Stone published earlier this week, the 74-year-old musician is quoted saying: “It’s not going to make Who fans very happy, but thank God they’re gone. Because they were f**king difficult to play with.”
On Wednesday, Townshend shared a message on Facebook in which he said he was being ironic.
“No one can ever know how much I miss Keith and John, as people, as friends and as musicians,” he wrote. “To this day I am angry at Keith and John for dying. Sometimes it shows. It’s selfish, but it’s how I feel.
“But I am sincerely grateful to have had these second and third incarnations as a member of what we still dare to call The Who – once after Keith passed, then again after John passed. I do thank God for this, but I was being ironic in my own English way by suggesting it is something I am glad about.”
Townshend apologized to family members of Moon and Entwistle – specifically Mandy Moon and Chris Entwistle – “for carelessly providing the words that were used” by Rolling Stone.
“In the past three months I have done so many interviews I am losing focus and patience,” he wrote. “I forgive myself. I hope they can forgive me too. I loved their dads and still do.”
Read Townshend's full statement below: