“I need to keep my f**king mouth shut”: Nuno Bettencourt issues apology to Richard Fortus following Rihanna gig disagreement

Earlier this week, Nuno Bettencourt aimed a heated response at Richard Fortus, who had taken issue with the Extreme virtuoso’s observation that many of his peers – including Slash – would struggle to be Rihanna’s guitarist.

Now, Bettencourt has issued a four-plus-minute apology to Fortus on Instagram, saying he “reacted kind of hot because I probably realized how much of a dumbass I was by saying what I said”.

After Fortus “respectfully disagreed” with Bettencourt’s initial observations and argued that the role wouldn’t be a struggle for his GNR bandmate, the Rise mastermind responded with a lengthy statement of his own.

“@4tus I’ve 'respectively' never heard you play one note in my 56 years of being alive and only know your name from the Rihanna camp and as a replacement player in Guns,” Bettencourt wrote on Instagram. “I’m sure you’re a decent player, but did you really need to repost a headline that made me look like I am badmouthing a fellow player, Slash.”

In his apology, Bettencourt labeled the whole ordeal as “ridiculous”, and admitted he took “full responsibility” for the exchange.

“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 said. “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.

“Don’t ask me about anybody else, don’t ask me about Rihanna, don't ask me about Slash or Guns or Richard Fortus, who I owe an apology to – Richard, sorry brother, this is ridiculous, you had a complete right to defend your bro. Even if it wasn’t the lightest way, you are correct.”

“I don’t like hurting people, I don’t like talking bad about anybody, and this is all coming from me, from a ridiculous Planet Rock interview. It came across very arrogant, it came across very offensive, and people love this shit and they’re feeding off of it, and all it does is create bad vibes for everybody.”

In his lengthy apology, Bettencourt reiterated that he’d “never heard a note” that Fortus has played, but took a far more diplomatic approach this time round, saying “he’s obviously a great guitar player”.

“Apologies again to Richard, he’s obviously a great guitar player, he’s playing with Guns, he’s got to be amazing,” Bettencourt added. “I stepped out of my lane on this one. I read what I actually answered and it was pretty fucking stupid. I made it way too self-important for that gig.

“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.”