Though many were confused (including Jughead himself) by the omission of longtime member John "Jughead" Pierson from the recent Screeching Weasel reunions, Ben Weasel has finally addressed the issue in a new interview.

Ben commented:

I'm not going to trash John, I've known John since I was 12 years old. I don't know why he chose to take the route that he did; that's his decision. He certainly has the right if he wants to do that. And if that sets some of the fans against me, so be it.

John went on the Internet and acted like this all happened out of the blue, and it didn't. So eventually it did get resolved, and John got what is in my opinion a very fair settlement which gives him a cut of merchandise sales in perpetuity. And I'm happy to pay him that money. But in terms of him not being in the band, again, it puts me in a difficult position but suffice to say, it was not an amicable split over the business stuff. And during the dispute, I told him many times that he was jeopardizing his future with whatever might happen with the band down the road, and I begged him not to do that.

Check out the full interview here.