Joey Jordison’s Estate Settles Lawsuit Against Slipknot

In the complaint, Steamroller accused Slipknot members Corey Taylor and Michael Shawn “Clown” Crahan and associated companies of failing to return “musical instruments, gear and wardrobe” belonging to Joey.

The complaint reads, “After abruptly kicking Jordison out of SLIPKNOT in 2013, Taylor and Crahan expressly promised in a written agreement to return all of Jordison’s belongings in exchange for Jordison’s promise to release certain claims against” them, the complaint read. “The agreement contained a non-exclusive list of broad categories of items that (Taylor and Crahan) represented were in their possession and that they would return to Jordison. (Taylor and Crahan) purported to comply with the agreement by returning certain items to Jordison but, unbeknownst to Jordison, (they) had executed the agreement with no intention of performing their obligations thereunder, and knowingly concealed from Jordison that they possessed numerous other items belonging to Jordison that they never returned to him.”

Yikes.

According to the lawsuit, Jordison, Crahan and Paul Gray formed Slipknot in ’95. In ’99, band members Crahan, Gray, Taylor and Jordison entered into a partnership agreement and formed the Slipknot Partnership. In 2010, Jordison started experiencing symptoms we later know was acute transverse myelitis. The neurological disease got to the point that Joey couldn’t use his left leg. The lawsuit claims that in 2013, Crahan and Taylor “abruptly kicked Jordison out of the band via e-mail. The callousness of Jordison’s firing and other mistreatment at the hands of Crahan and Taylor have been widely reported and criticized by fans of the band. Since the 1990s, Jordison had dedicated his life to making SLIPKNOT a metal sensation, from which  Crahan and Taylor handsomely profited. It made no sense why Crahan and Taylor would treat Jordison with such disdain, especially in light of Jordison’s declining health.”

In 2015, Jordison and Slipknot Partnership, Slipknot, Inc.’s Crahan and Taylor entered into a release agreement to buy out Jordison’s interest in the Slipknot Partnership. That required Crahan and Taylor to “promptly following the full execution of th[e] Release Agreement” return to Jordison “any property, including musical gear or equipment, belonging to” Jordison, “that is now in the possession of” Crahan and Taylor.

According to the complaint, Taylor and Crahan “continued to profit off Jordison’s death and his grieving fanbase to this day, by displaying Jordison’s belongings at a traveling Slipknot museum called Knotfest. The museum has made numerous tour stops over the course of several years and (Taylor and Crahan) have profited handsomely from Jordison’s fans’ willingness to pay admission fees to view Jordison’s iconic belongings in person.”

After the complaint was filed, Slipknot’s legal team asked to dismiss, saying, “Defendants generally deny each and every allegation and purported claim set forth in Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint and further deny that Plaintiff is entitled to any relief whatsoever.”

Of course, this goes much, much, deeper than what’s here – but the main point is, Joey’s estate has reached an agreement with Slipknot that we’ll likely never know the details about. And maybe, nor should we.