Slipknot Sued By Joey Jordison's Estate For Allegedly Profiting From His Death

The estate of late Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison has sued band members Corey Taylor (vocalist) and Shawn “Clown” Crahan (percussionist) for allegedly profiting from his death.

TMZ and Blabbermouth obtained the lawsuit that was originally filed last June at the end of December 2023. Steamroller Inc., operating in the interest of Jordison, alleges that Taylor and Crahan didn’t return “at least 22 items” of the late drummer’s despite “promising to return all of Jordison’s belongings”, Consequence Of Sound reports.

According to the lawsuit, those items have appeared “in a travelling Slipknot museum called Knotfest and line[d] their pockets with profit off of Jordison’s devoted fanbase”.

The lawsuit alleges that Taylor and Crahan had agreed to give Jordison back his belongings following his 2013 firing from the band, which included “musical instruments, gear, and wardrobe”, but failed to do so before his passing in July 2021.

Elsewhere, the lawsuit called Taylor and Crahan’s behaviour “callous” for allegedly using Jordison’s passing as a marketing tool in the lead-up to their 2022 album, The End, So Far. The lawsuit reads:

While family, friends, and fans mourned the loss of the legendary drummer, neither bandmate expressed condolences to Jordison’s family after his passing. Instead, Taylor and Crahan heartlessly sought to profit off of Jordison’s death. Slipknot released a new album in 2022 titled ‘The End, So Far’. Fan reviews of the album rarely miss the opportunity to lament Jordison’s absence. Taylor and Crahan callously used Jordison’s death as marketing for their new album. Taylor publicly dedicated The End, So Far to Jordison, claiming that the realisation of Jordison’s passing ‘crept in’ while making the album.

“Taylor even acknowledged that he and Crahan had mistreated Jordison in an interview, telling fans that they ‘were hoping to mend fences with him, and it’s one of those things that tells you: whatever you need to do, do it now because you never know when you’re gonna lose somebody.’ Perhaps worst of all, Crahan and Taylor publicly lied to fans that they had contacted Jordison’s family to check on them and express their condolences and love for Jordison in the wake of his passing. This was utterly false and deeply upsetting for Jordison’s family to read such a blatant lie on the internet. It is clear that Taylor and Crahan did not actually care about Jordison or his family; they cared only about drumming up publicity and sales of the new album.

The lawsuit also alleges that Taylor and Crahan weren’t sympathetic to Jordison’s struggles with the neurological disorder acute transverse myelitis. “[They] abruptly kicked Jordison out of Slipknot by e-mail,” the lawsuit continued. “The callousness of Jordison’s firing and other mistreatment at the hands of Crahan and Taylor have been widely reported and criticised 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.”

Consequence Of Sound reports that Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan have issued their own legal documents in response to the lawsuit and requested the case be dismissed.

Jordison was a founding member of the Iowa-founded heavy metal group, forming Slipknot in 1995 alongside percussionist Shawn Crahan and bass player Paul Gray (who passed away in 2010).

They would later be joined by vocalist Anders Colsefni. Colsefni was replaced by best-known vocalist Corey Taylor in 1997, joining the group alongside Jordison, Crahan, Gray, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn and Jim Root to form their best-known line-up. 

With Jordison, the group won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for their 2006 track Before I Forget.