Sammy Hagar fires back after Alex Van Halen calls him "a complete idiot"
Sammy Hagar has told Alex Van Halen to "Come clean, what's your problem?" after the drummer called him "a complete idiot."
Hagar fired back in an interview with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM, according to Rolling Stone reporting published on 18 September 2026. It is the latest exchange in what September 2026 reporting described as a decades-long feud between the former Van Halen bandmates.
Van Halen made the remark in an interview with Brazilian magazine Roadie Crew. Asked about Hagar's 2011 book, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, he said: "I don't know what he wrote, and I don't want to know." He then called Hagar "a complete idiot."
Hagar did not hold back. He said Van Halen acts like there was never a Sammy Hagar or "Van Hagar," the nickname for Van Halen's years with Hagar as frontman. That era, Hagar said, sold "40-some million records" and produced four Number One albums.
The dispute centres on how that period is remembered. Van Halen's 240-page memoir, Brothers: An Intimate Account of Brotherhood and Rock Music, does not mention Hagar by name. Over the last few years, Hagar has argued that Van Halen has diminished the Van Hagar period in public retellings of the band's history.
Hagar is set to resume his Best of All Worlds residency at Park MGM in Las Vegas with Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Kenny Aronoff. He also discussed the feud, his thoughts on retirement and why Van Halen needs a documentary in a Rolling Stone feature in April 2025.
What makes this stand out is how much of it is about the record books. One side leaves a name out. The other answers with sales totals and chart positions. For fans, this means the argument is not about one insult, but about who gets written into the band's story.
