Angus Young 'Came Off Cold' After Brian Johnson's AC/DC Tour Exit

Following claims made in March that AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson was "kicked to the curb" by his band mates after announcing he must cease touring or face permanent hearing loss, comedian and friend of the singer Jim Breuer has spoken out again on the topic, suggesting that Johnson was not treated well at all by the band and that guitarist Angus Young "came off cold" after the announcement was made. 

Speaking on the Talk Toomey podcast (via Blabbermouth), the US comic believes the situation was handled poorly by the band. 

"As a fan, I will say I don't think [Johnson] was treated well at all," Breuer said. 

"At the end of the day, Brian is a huge, huge entity, and he is just [as much of] a part of AC/DC as the [Young] brothers, whether they wanna realize it or not. And as a fan, and I think I could speak for a lot of fans, it was a little awkward that, here's a man that's been with you for 36 years, he took you to a new stratosphere, he put you in the stratosphere.

"When you first heard Back In Black and You Shook Me All Night Long, no one said, 'Wow, that Angus Young is amazing.' They went, 'Jesus! Who is this guy? How did this guy replace Bon [Scott]? How is this possible?'"

Breuer said given Johnson's time with the band, he personally would have liked to see the iconic group front a press conference together to make the announcement.

Instead, the band last month confirmed that Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose would be taking over frontman duties for a number of European and US tour dates after issuing a statement on their website.

Just a few days later, Johnson released his own statement saying that he was "crushed" over having to pull out of the tour.

"...To not see that and just read a headline that says 'We're replacing… looking for new singers,' and you don't hear anything from Brian until Axl [Rose] is official… me personally, it's a little weird," Breuer continued. 

"I mean, you could have made a celebration. And it seemed like, at the end, when it was all said and done, Brian came off very classy, and Angus came off cold, like Walmart just replacing a cashier.

"Which, again, that's right, but he needs to know his audience, and he needs to know how much love, time, investment and money we put into Brian Johnson. And he is a huge, huge voice and part of AC/DC and rock and roll, period."

AC/DC will kick off their European shows with Rose this weekend in Portugal and earlier this week, some fans allegedly recorded the group rehearsing together in a Lisbon studio.