The Who’s Pete Townshend admits Ringo Starr Son Zak Starkey firing was “a mess” and “got out of hand”

The Who‘s Pete Townshend has addressed Zak Starkey’s departure from the band and admitted the situation has been “a mess”.

The saga began in March when The Who performed a concert at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year with little rehearsal time. They then announced Starkey’s initial exit in April, which was met by bemusement from the drummer before Townshend took to Instagram to reveal the drummer was back in the fold.

Once the situation seemingly cooled down, the drummer was again axed in May. Townshend said, “The time has come for change”, and Scott Devours would replace Starkey on drums for The Who’s upcoming farewell tour in North America.

Starkey has since been vocal about the subject, writing on Instagram, “I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit The Who to pursue my other musical endevours this would be a lie.” The drummer added: “I love The Who and would never had quit. So I didn’t make the statement.”

Additionally, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Starkey revealed his father, Ringo Starr, was furious with how singer Roger Daltrey dealt with his son’s exit, reportedly saying, “‘I’ve never liked the way that little man runs that band’.”

Now, in a new interview with The I, Townshend admitted of the bizarre ordeal, “It’s been a mess”. He also said of the now-infamous Royal Albert Hall concert: “I couldn’t see anything wrong. What you see is a band who haven’t played together for a long time. But I think it was probably to do with the sound. I’ve lost my sound man as a result.”

The guitarist was also reluctant to discuss Daltrey’s thoughts on the matter, claiming, “I have to be careful what I say about Roger because he gets angry if I say anything about him at all. He’ll be sacking me next. But that’s not to say that he sacked Zak. It’s a decision Roger and I tried to make together, but it kind of got out of hand.”

Townshend then said that the decision to employ Starkey originally wasn’t made by him, sharing, “I didn’t invite him in, right? Roger invited him. And at that time, I don’t know quite why he chose Zak, but Zak is another Keith Moon. He comes with real, real bonuses and real, real difficulties.”

Nevertheless, on a personal level, Townshend said of his former bandmate, “I will miss Zak terribly. But quite what the story is, I don’t fucking know. I really don’t know.”

The Who are set to begin their farewell tour in August.