Most ageing rock stars love nostalgic stories about their years of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.
But not Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who received a grovelling apology from the son of the band’s late drummer over claims Jimmy introduced him to cocaine.
Jason Bonham retracted comments he made on US radio where he claimed Jimmy introduced him to the marching powder.
The son of late Zeppelin legend John Bonham now insists his previous statements were “untrue”.
It is an extraordinary twist given that Jason gleefully boasted during an interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM earlier this month that Jimmy, 75, dished him up “blow” and was “the first” to show him drugs.
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It is understood Jimmy was “livid and dumbstruck” at Jason’s outburst, given that they had been close friends and he had been like a “father figure” to him after his dad’s passing.
But on Thursday, Jason, 52, said that his comments were “unfounded and untrue” and apologised to Page.
As part of a longer statement, Jason said: “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.”
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The scandal started when Jason – who took the place of his late father John on drums when Led Zeppelin reunited for a show in 2007 – claimed on the radio that Jimmy was the first to hand cocaine to him as a 16-year-old.
Jason revealed: “Believe it or not, Jimmy was the first guy to give it to me when I was on tour.
“I got called to his room, I was 16 at this point.
“He went, ‘Here you go’ and I went, ‘Thanks’.
“He’s like, ‘You’ve done this before, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, of course I have’.
“So he handed it over and I just did all of it, and he went, ‘Just like your father. That was supposed to be for all of us’.”
What possessed Bonham to fabricate such a thing?
We reckon there might be a few Christmas cards missing in the post this year...
