After nearly 30 years together, Slipknot is parting ways with keyboardist and DJ Sid Wilson.
The news came in a since-deleted Instagram and website post from the Grammy-winning heavy metal band on Friday (Aug. 14) after weeks of speculation about Wilson’s status in the group. The statement remains posted on the Instagram account for Knotfest, the music festival created in 2012 by Slipknot.
“Effective immediately, Slipknot will no longer be associated with Sid Wilson,” the statement reads. “We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
The Knotfest Instagram caption adds: “Slipknot have parted ways with Sid Wilson. The announcement could briefly be found on the band’s website.”
Billboard has reached out to a rep for Slipknot for further details.
Wilson joined Slipknot in 1998, having been recruited by the Des Moines, Iowa-founded heavy metal band as its ninth member for his impressive DJing skills. He joined just before the group’s mainstream breakthrough, when they signed to Roadrunner Records and released their 1999 self-titled debut album.
The project was the band’s first on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart (peaking at No. 51 in May 2000), where they’ve since landed six top 10s and three No. 1s: 2008’s All Hope Is Gone, 2014’s .5: The Gray Chapter and 2019’s We Are Not Your Kind. In 2006, the band took home their lone Grammy, best metal performance for the song “Before I Forget,” among 11 career nominations.
Last month, TMZ reported that Wilson — known for wearing a gas-mask-like face covering amid the famously masked band — was notified July 31 that he’d been let go from the group. With no official word from the band or Wilson himself, comments from Slipknot guitarist Jim Root on Instagram planted seeds of doubt around the report. “Don’t believe everything you read,” Root wrote in a since-expired Instagram Story post, according to People. “Stop. Think. Take a breath. Sit with it for awhile. Maybe. Just maybe even wait until there’s more information.”
Friday’s posted-and-deleted statement exactly two weeks later is the first word from Slipknot on the status of Wilson, who also reportedly broke off his engagement to Kelly Osbourne in March.
Slipknot’s most recent album was 2022’s The End, So Far, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.