“Bottom line is, this is on me. I need to keep my f**king mouth shut”: Nuno Bettencourt issues apology to Richard Fortus following Rihanna gig comments

Nuno Bettencourt has issued an apology to Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus following a lengthy social media tirade against him earlier this week.

The animosity between the pair came when Bettencourt claimed that most guitarists “could not in their lifetime” play with Rihanna, naming Slash as a player who could not handle the gig. He reasoned that playing with the popstar was incredibly demanding.

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Richard Fortus then clapped back at Bettencourt, sharing a screenshot of the Guitar.com article, asserting that he “respectfully disagrees” with Bettencourt’s statement.

This prompted Bettencourt to launch into a lengthy attack on Fortus. In a post on Instagram, he wrote: “I’ve ‘respectively’ never heard you play one note in my 56 years of being alive.” His response looked to be out of fear that his comments would damage his relationship with Slash.

“I’m responding to this not cause I give a shit about what this guitarist thinks about me but, instead, because I’d hate to think my few words offended a hero of mine, Slash, and possibly fuck up my relationship with him,” he said.

Now, the drama appears to have reached a conclusion, as Bettencourt has issued a four-minute apology video to Instagram.

“This little – what people are saying is a ‘spat’ – between Richard Fortus and I, comments that I made, the post that he made, the shit that I said about playing Rihanna… it’s ridiculous,” he says. “I’m not that guy. I don’t wanna be that guy, I’m not interested in this shit, it actually makes me sick.

“Last straw is I just got home and I see fucking [Justin] Hawkins is doing a whole post on it, an episode, and deciphering who said what… this is ridiculous. Bottom line is, this is on me. I need to keep my fucking mouth shut. I got asked a question about Rihanna and my answer was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. I take full responsibility for it.

“I tried to make a point, it kind of backfired on me. I do a lot of press and every once in a while you say stupid shit, you get asked a stupid question. Now I’m going to stick to Extreme, stick to what I know, stick to what I do on guitar. That way no-one can fuck with me and be offended.

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“Let’s stop this bullshit. I hope to have a beer with Richard sometime soon and have a laugh about it, because this is just stupid.”

Fortus himself has since commented on Bettencourt’s post, writing: “Contacting you directly to make arrangements for that beer.”