NIKKI SIXX On Unauthorized MÖTLEY CRÜE Play: We Have 'No Connection Or Affiliation With This Play Whatsoever'

MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx has issued a statement distancing himself and his bandmates from the recently announced play about the iconic rock group.

Last week, it was announced that "The Crüe: Underneath The Dirt Lies The Truth" would debut on Saturday, June 4 at the Hollywood Fringe festival at The Flight Theater at The Complex in Los Angeles. The play from award-winning writer/director David Lucarelli was described in a press release as "a darkly humorous drama" starring Ryan Ruffing as Sixx and Phillip-Charlie Daniell as MÖTLEY CRÜE manager Doc McGhee. It was said to be "neither a hatchet job, nor a snow job" but rather "an intimate look at Nikki Sixx and the band he built into a cultural phenomenon."

Earlier today (Monday, May 9),Sixx issued the following statement via his Instagram: "Fans of MÖTLEY CRÜE have asked about a new play by David Zucarelli's [sic] called The Crüe: Underneath The Dirt Lies The Truth.

"I was disappointed to see an advertisement using my image and our band's trademark THE CRÜE to promote this play.

"The advertising is misleading because it suggests that I and the other members of the band are somehow involved with the play.

"We have never been approached about this play. And MÖTLEY CRÜE has no connection or affiliation with this play whatsoever."

"The Crüe" is written and directed by Lucarelli, award-winning writer/producer of "Doctor Zomba's Ghost Show", writer of "Tinseltown" (Alterna Comics) and "The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade" graphic novels.

"The Crüe" cast: Ryan Ruffing, Phillip-Charlie Daniell, Jeff Skomsky, Roman Guastaferro, Ed Gage, Madison Hansen, David Guenaga and Tamara Torres.

When "The Crüe" was first announced, Lucarelli said in a statement: "I debuted my first play, 'Doctor Zomba's Ghost Show', at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe fest to a sold-out run. I'm so excited to return to the Fringe fest for my directorial debut with 'The Crüe'. Given that MÖTLEY rose up from the very same streets of Hollywood that now bring forth the Hollywood Fringe fest, it feels like the perfect place to do it.

"If all people remember MÖTLEY CRÜE for it being the quintessential party band that did a lot of drugs and had a lot of sex, then that would be a shame because there was so much more to them," he continued. "I've been a lifelong fan of this band since I first saw them live in 1984. This play is my attempt to show them as more than just one-dimensional caricatures and show the world why they mean so much to so many."

He added: "The casting of Ryan Ruffing as Nikki Sixx has been a real coup. Nikki was the mastermind behind the band, and Ryan captures perfectly the single-minded intensity it took to make MÖTLEY CRÜE so massively successful, the brilliance of his creative vision, and the dark side of his self-destructive nature."

Nikki Sixx photo credit: Jason Shaltz of SiriusXM