Ringo Starr reportedly didn't pull any punches when coming to his son's defense. During an interview with Rolling Stone, published on Monday, June 16th, Starkey's son, Zak Starkey, opened up about his tenure as the drummer for The Who and how his father, the iconic Beatles drummer, stood by his side. "I'm incredibly proud of him for standing up for me," Starkey, 59, told Rolling Stone.
As for what his dad had to say about the controversy? According to Starkey, the 84-year-old Starr reportedly declared, "'I've never liked the way that little man runs that band,'" seemingly referring to The Who's frontman, Roger Daltrey. A representative for Daltrey did not promptly respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Thursday, June 19th.
Starkey had been a mainstay with the classic-rock band for nearly three decades when, in April, it was announced that he and The Who were parting ways. At the time, Starkey expressed his "pride" in his tenure with the band. However, just days later, Pete Townshend clarified that Starkey wasn't leaving. "There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been happily aired," he wrote on Instagram.
In May, the band once again announced Starkey's departure. "After many years of great work on drums from Zak, the time has come for a change. A poignant time," The Who and Townshend, 80, shared on Instagram. "Zak has lots of new projects in the pipeline, and I wish him the best."
Starkey then took to his Instagram account, claiming that he had been fired and asked to state that he had quit. "I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit The Who to pursue my other musical endeavors. This would be a lie," Starkey wrote. "I love The Who and would never have quit. So I didn't make the statement," the drummer continued. "Quitting The Who would have also let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) through the weeks of mayhem of me going 'in and out, in and out, in and out like a bleeding squeezebox.'"
Starkey provided another update regarding his supposed firing, revealing that there had been a miscommunication between him and Daltrey, 81. "NOISE & CONFUSION!!!! I had a great phone chat with Roger [Daltrey] at the end of last week, which truly confused both of us!!!" he wrote on Instagram on May 26th. "Rog said I hadn't been 'fired'… I had been 'retired' to work on my own projects. I explained to Rog that I had just spent nearly eight weeks at my studio in Jamaica completing these projects, that my group Mantra Of The Cosmos was releasing one single at the beginning of June, and after that had run its course (usually five or six weeks)," he continued. "I was completely available for the foreseeable future... Rog said 'Oh!' and we kind of left it there - on good terms and great friends as we have always been," Starkey added. "Gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say, 'The mind boggles!!!' XXX."
When asked by Rolling Stone whether he blamed The Who for his firing, Starkey said he held no grudges. "I don't hold any grudges. It's The Who. Weirder stuff than this has happened. I've heard them say weirder stuff than this. It's The Who — the maddest band there's ever been," he said.
