The Who drummer Zak Starkey claims he was fired for second time after "weeks of mayhem"

However, Starkey quickly followed up an hour after the initial announcement, stating that the decision to leave The Who was not mutual.

In a lengthy post to his personal Instagram, Starkey wrote: "I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit the who to pursue my other musical endeavours.

"I love the who and would never had quit. So I didn’t make the statement ….quitting the who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) thru the weeks of mayhem of me going ‘in an out an in an out an in an out like a bleedin squeezebox x To clarify ‘other projects’ yes I do have other projects and always have."

Starkey went on to explain that, over the years, he's had multiple other projects in the works with the likes of Johnny Marr, the Lightning Seeds and Oasis.

He explained: "None of this has ever interfered with The Who and was never a problem for them. The lie is or would have been that I quit The Who – I didn’t. I love The Who and everyone in it."

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Starkey had previously been fired from the band back in April over a reported disagreement about his performance at their headlining gig at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Starkey had labelled his former bandmate and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey as "Toger Daktrey" following Daltrey's comments about Starkey's drumming on-stage.

A few days later, Starkey rejoined the group with guitarist Townshend saying: “There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily."

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