Comedian Jim Breuer is continuing to change his tune regarding comments he made on his podcast about AC/DC singer Brian Johnson telling him he felt “kicked to the curb” when the band announced it will reschedule shows without him. AC/DC recently postponed the last ten shows on its latest North American trek after it was reported that Johnson’s doctors advised him to come off the road or face “total hearing loss.”
On the latest installment of his “The Metal In Me” podcast, Breuer attempted to further explain his comments and revealed his embarrassment over revealing details of his private conversations with the singer.
Asked whether he thought the members of AC/DC were angry at him, Breuer said: “No. I think a little bit of… invasion of privacy. I apologized… I talked in a conversation, not realizing it would be that crazy. It was a very intimate, private conversation that I kinda put out there.”
The comedian went on to admit that he felt “like an asshole” for what he said and made it clear that the “kicked to the curb” quote had come from him and not Johnson. “[It was] not fabricated, but, you know … I also left out a lot, you know,” he said. “Like Brian going on about how great [AC/DC guitarist] Angus [Young] is, and he’s the messiah and all this jazz. I just didn’t know it would be that crazy. I didn’t even read anything. I was too mortified that I kinda invaded their privacy, and… I felt really bad. I still feel really bad. I feel awful. I should have called and said, ‘Hey, man, I was talking on a podcast and I kinda mentioned some things.'”
Breuer added: “I was talking as a friend and a fan. I was, like, ‘What the hell, man?’ I just felt terrible. But it’s not my right to do that, you know what I mean? It’s not my right to go out and say, ‘Hey, heres what happened, and here’s the official word, and here’s what’s going on.'”
In his original comments, Breuer said he saw Johnson in Sarasota, Florida on March 11, where the singer told him that his doctor had confirmed some hearing loss during the first, mostly outdoor, leg of AC/DC’s world tour. Breuer said at the time that Johnson told him: “The doctor said, ‘Now you’re gonna go out and do indoor shows? I do not put my name on this. You’re a grown man. You make a decision, but I would not mess around with this at all.'”
Johnson then went to Angus Young and AC/DC management to explain the situation, according to Breuer, who said: “Brian said that he called and let AC/DC and Young know, ‘Hey, this is what the doctor said, but let’s try to figure this out. I don’t think it’s as bad as he said it is.’ Literally the next day in the press, it was ‘Brian Johnson, tour canceled, he’s losing his hearing.'”
Breuer continued: “Johnson said he just called and gave that information. He didn’t say he wanted to quit. He didn’t say he was done. He called with that information, and two days later, he read in the papers and heard on Twitter and everywhere else, ‘Brian Johnson going deaf canceling tour.’ A day later, and it was, ‘Oh, we’re gonna have guest singers.'”
Shockingly, Breuer added that Johnson suspected that he has already been replaced in AC/DC. Breuer said: “He feels like he heard from someone that they already hired somebody, it just hasn’t been announced yet.”
Breuer said that Johnson still felt like a “hired gun” after 36 years, and that Angus Young as the band’s youngest member wants to keep going for another decade and at least one more album and tour.
Johnson has been the band’s singer since 1980, when he replaced the late Bon Scott. He made his recording debut with the group on the classic “Back In Black”.
AC/DC has been on the road since last year in support of its 16th studio album, “Rock Or Bust”. The band has said it will make up the postponed dates, possibly with a “guest vocalist.”
Source: Blabbermouth
