Wolfgang Van Halen recently had a conversation with WTF with Marc Maron Podcast, where he opened up about the criticism from the fans after he replaced bassist Michael Anthony in Van Halen, and said he tried to avoid the negativity once he joined his late father’s band:

“I was just having a good time enjoying my newly sober dad and jamming with my family and having a wonderful time. And it was just this wonderful, happy, joyous thing. Until it went public, and then it was, like, ‘Yeah, I can see why people would want to hate me.’”

Asked more if the criticism was actually about Michael Anthony leaving the band, Wolfgang said:

“Yeah. But that’s between my dad and him. I was just there to make sure my dad stayed on the sober path that he was on. And me being there for him and keeping the train moving was my full intent.”