THE BEAST

Jason Bonham has apologized to his father's LED ZEPPELIN bandmate Jimmy Page for claiming that the guitarist introduced him to cocaine.

During a recent chat with Howard Stern , the now 52-year-old drummer, who fronts JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING , recalled an alleged incident involving drugs which was said to have taken place in hotel while LED ZEPPELIN on tour. "We got called to his room," Jason said. "I was 16 at this point, and there was a woman on the floor with a collar on, meowing, and he had this grinder thing and he turned it over and he went, 'Here you go,' and I went, 'Thanks.' He's like, 'You've done this before, right?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, of course I have.' So he handed it over and I just did all of it, and he went, 'Just like your father — y'know, that was supposed to be for all of us.'"

But Jason , who subbed for his late father during LED ZEPPELIN 's 2007 reunion show and got his break drumming for Page on his 1988 "Outrider" tour, has now retracted those comments and issued a personal apology to Page.

In a statement on his web site , Bonham wrote: "On or about 9 April 2019 I, Jason Bonham , gave an interview on radio with Howard Stern . In that interview I made certain untrue and derogatory statements concerning Mr James Page of the legendary band LED ZEPPELIN .

"I unconditionally retract all derogatory and defamatory comments relating to Mr J Page that I made in that interview. In particular it is wholly untrue that Mr J Page offered me any illegal substances either when I was a minor or at all.

"I apologise to Mr Page , unreservedly, for making these unfounded and untrue comments about him.

"Out of my long held respect for Mr Page I will make no further comments on the interview and I agree to make no further comments which Mr Page might view as disparaging, either now or in the future."

During the Howard Stern chat, Jason went on to remember: "I would be doing blow, and they found out, so Jimmy cut his guitar solo short. I was halfway down into the dressing rooms and I suddenly hear [that] I'm supposed to come in now... So we ran back and Jimmy 's just standing there. He was angry because we didn't offer him any!"

Jason Bonham , who lost his father when he was only 14 years old, felt as though his whole life had been building up to drumming for ZEPPELIN on December 10, 2007 in London. "But for me, as I said, it was a huge, huge honor to play," he said. "And all I was concentrating on the night, 'cause I knew there was that many people there — I was just concentrating who was on the stage. I just wanted to impress my mates here, my dad's friends."

On May 10, THE CIRCLE — featuring Sammy Hagar , Michael Anthony , Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson — will release its first album of all original material, titled "Space Between" . The band kicks off its next string of dates on April 19 at Reno, Nevada's Grand Theatre.

Via Blabbermouth