Since then, the band has disputed the claims of the lawsuit, with a Fleetwood Mac spokesperson later adding that the band “looks forward to their day in court.” Now, Buckingham has apparently settled his lawsuit with the group, as Rolling Stone points out.
In an interview with CBS This Morning that aired on Saturday, Buckingham said that the lawsuit was quietly settled a few weeks ago, and that he’s “happy enough” with how things played out. “We’ve all signed off on something,” he said in the first TV interview since his departure. “I’m happy enough with it. I’m not out there trying to twist the knife at all. I’m trying to look at this with some level of compassion, some level of wisdom.”
Details about the terms of the settlement were sparse, with much of the interview focusing on Buckingham’s relationships with Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, and the rest of the band’s current touring lineup. “I have had, only in the last couple of weeks, I have gotten an email, which I expected to get, from Christine McVie,” he said. “She wrote me an email and basically said, ‘Dearest Lindsey, just know that I had nothing to do with any of this. Know that I miss you so much.’ She said, ‘I believe deep in Stevie’s heart that she would like you to come home.'” Buckingham also said that his departure from the band was done at Nicks’ request. Earlier this year, he made a similar claim in an interview with Rolling Stone, where he said that the band’s manager Irving Azoff told him that Nicks had given the band “an ultimatum: Either you go or she’s gonna go.”
Despite all this infighting, Buckingham said that he’d be open to returning to the band in some form, but that he isn’t too confident that things will ever be the same again. “I’m pretty much figuring that I won’t [return to the band] because a lot of people who know how convoluted Fleetwood Mac’s politics have been will say two years from now they’re gonna…and I’m like, ‘I’m not so sure.’ You know, it’s something is a little different this time,” he said.
In addition to the interview, Buckingham played three songs from his recent Solo Anthology as part of the show’s “Saturday Sessions” performance series. Watch a few clips of both the interview and performance below.
