'This was not something that was really my doing or my choice,' the rocker talks about his exit from the group that he joined in 1974.

• May 14, 2018

AceShowbiz - Rocker Lindsey Buckingham has described leaving Fleetwood Mac as "not something that was my doing or my choice."The band announced in April that they would tour without the singer and guitarist, who had been a member since he joined the group in 1974 with his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks.

During his set at a campaign fundraiser for Democratic congressional candidate Mike Levin in Los Angeles on Friday, May 11, Buckingham is seen in video captured by one audience member telling the crowd he was fired from the rock band.

"It's been an interesting time on a lot of levels. For me, personally, probably some of you know that for the last three months I have sadly taken leave of my band of 43 years, Fleetwood Mac," Buckingham said.

After an audience member shouted out "Stevie Nicks!", he responded: "This was not something that was really my doing or my choice. I think what you would say is that there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective," he added.

He then went on to slam the other band members for ruining Fleetwood Mac's legacy.

"What that did was to harm – and this is the only thing I'm really sad about, the rest of it becomes an opportunity – it harmed the 43-year legacy that we had worked so hard to build. And that legacy was really about rising above difficulties in order to fulfill someone's higher truth and one's higher destiny."

Rolling Stone magazine reported in April that Buckingham had been fired due to a disagreement over an upcoming tour, and was replaced by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House.

Drummer and co-founder Mick Fleetwood told Rolling Stone last month: "Words like 'fired' are ugly references as far as I'm concerned. Not to hedge around, but we arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall.

"This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band," he added. "To that purpose, we made a decision that we could not go on with him. Majority rules in term of what we need to do as a band and go forward."