Has Tom DeLonge quit Blink 182? Has he been pushed? Does anyone know?!

Blink 182 were recently announced as one of the headliners for Musink festival in the US (alongside Rancid and Bad Religion), featuring Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba instead of their own Tom DeLonge. Now a statement has emerged online via radio.com allegedly from the band’s publicist claiming DeLonge has left the band.

“Matt Skiba of the Alkaline Trio will join Blink-182 in replacement of Tom DeLonge at the 8th annual Musink Music and Tattoo Festival. “We were all set to play this festival and record a new album and Tom kept putting it off without reason. A week before we were scheduled to go in to the studio we got an email from his manager explaining that he didn’t want to participate in any Blink-182 projects indefinitely, but would rather work on his other non-musical endeavors.”

“Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus plan to honor all Blink-182 commitments including the Musink Festival and are excited to have singer/guitarist Matt Skiba join them for this project. “No hard feelings, but the show must go on for our fans.” Additionally, Skiba will continue to make new music and tour with the Alkaline Trio.”

There’s no direct source on the story, just the one syndicated report - the band or DeLonge haven’t posted an update to their social networks, so we’re not prepared to call it yet, but it’s worth keeping your eyes on this one while it develops.

Update:

Posting on Instagram, DeLonge claims not to have quit the band.

He writes: “To all the fans, I never quit the band. I actually was on a phone call about a Blink-182 event for New York City at the time all these weird press releases started coming in… Apparently those releases were ‘sanctioned’ from the band. Are we dysfunctional - yes. But, Christ….. #Awkward #BabyBackRibs”

Meanwhile, Mark Hoppus tweets