Jason Bonham has published a public apology to Jimmy Page for recent comments he made in which he claimed that Page introduced him to cocaine when he was 16.
Bonham claimed during an interview with Howard Stern earlier this month that Page gave him drugs when he was a child. He’s now retracted the statements and said that they were untrue.
Bonham published a retraction of the comments on his website and sent the statement to media outlets.
Read Jason Bonham’s full statement:
JIMMY PAGE OF LED ZEPPELIN – AN APOLOGY
On or about 9 April 2019 I, Jason Bonham, gave an interview on radio with Howard Stern (the Interview). In that interview I made certain untrue and derogatory statements concerning Mr. James Page (pka Jimmy Page) of the legendary band Led Zeppelin.
I unconditionally retract all derogatory and defamatory comments relating to Mr. J Page that I made in that interview. In particular it is wholly untrue that Mr. J Page offered me any illegal substances either when I was a minor or at all. I apologise to Mr. Page, unreservedly, for making these unfounded and untrue comments about him. Out of my long held respect for Mr. Page I will make no further comments on the Interview and I agree to make no further comments which Mr. Page might view as disparaging, either now or in the future.
The statement was published at the top of Bonham’s website:
Whether true or not, it was a different time. It doesn’t change the fact that Jimmy is a genius of untold talent! I love you Jimmy and all of Zeppelin. There will never be another band this awesome!
that was a really shitty thing for Jason to do to Jimmy. Really shitty.
Exactly XRaySpex,loose talk from Jason and totally unnecessary.I dare say Jason won’t be on Jimmy’s Christmas card list this year. ?
People are sooo butt-hurt by everything, sad that Jason had to recant something that was better left unsaid. Who cares!
On that note: I wish that MetalHeadzone, and Esquire, and Alternative Nation, and BlabberMouth, and Loudwire would seriously stop re-posting old articles and pictures from Jimmy Pages’ website and making it seem that it is actual news.
What a bunch of lazy hacks who not only don’t know how to write, they somehow copy and paste stuff from the internet as too many times it incorrectly lists the facts.
I get it, despite the fact that Jimmy Page hasn’t don’t sh*t since 2000; Led Zeppelin fans still drool at a story. So each year they re-report that Jimmy is working on a project which is usually a re-release of stuff that has already been re-released.
Meanwhile, Robert has been trying to find his groove outside the shadow of Led Zeppelin. Robert is truly a workhorse but sadly too, more than half his live set is sad reworkings of the original gold god Led Zeppelin; and nobody needs to hear Black Dog on the Nyanyero.
And then there’s John… an Opera??? really John? Get back in the studio and quit playing games with the mandolin. Johns’ got the most talent of them all, but sadly too is wasting his time with experimental art music.
Zeppelin was lightning in a bottle, and by the time John choked to death on his own vomit, they were already finished. Plant”s solo career has been arguably lumpy, but he’s still out there, exploring and I commend him for it. And JPJ keeps pushing the boundaries, and collaborated on one of the best hard rock albums and tour this century with Them Crooked Vultures.
I cherish the heyday years, but there was no way to sustain that level of intensity for long.
Spot on there Jen Andalou,most accurate observations I’ve read for a long time ! The remenants of LZ,failed relationships included,will go down in history as a missed opportunity for sure. Sad but true.
Disagree (almost) completely Jen. Sure, what you said about Jimmy is true, and I find hard to believe that his creative mind ended with Led Zeppelin, but it seems to be this way since he doesn’t do anything other than remasters of led zeppelin álbuns. On the other hand, I personally like a lot Robert plant’s solo career and I think it’s very rich, the sounds, styles, lyrics and you can see it differs a lot from led Zeppelin – because, well, it’s not led Zeppelin. I’ve been to two concerts of Mr. Plant and they were great. You underestimate Plant a lot to say he lives in the shadows of LZ days. Jimmy does this. John Paul Jones since led zeppelin years was the one who liked to “dare” more in terms of music, it was him who liked to mix different styles and sounds in the songs. Like the riff in achilles last stand and often playing bethoveen during No quarter presentations, travelling tru Asia to find out new ways to play and exotic oriental music. So for me is “nothing new under the sun” that he turned to this “experimental art”. Anyway, sorry about the grammar, English is not my native language.