Guns N' Roses Guitarist Slash Quits X After Solana Meme Coin Hack

Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has permanently abandoned X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday, citing "repeated hacks" that used his account to promote a meme coin.

The decision came just a week after hackers compromised his verified account to promote a Solana-based meme coin called GUNS, falsely positioning it as an official Guns N' Roses crypto project.

"This was a considered decision after repeated hacks, and it reflects a shift in how I'd like to stay connected moving forward," Slash told followers in what could, at least for now, be his final tweet.

It remains unclear why Slash claimed the hacks were " repeated" or if the message was directed specifically at the April 2 hacking incident.

Towards the end of his farewell tweet, the rock legend directed fans to follow him on other popular social media platforms, prompting some fans to suggest he try Bluesky, a decentralized alternative.

Welcome to the Jungle

The guitarist’s account was hacked just a few hours after April Fool's, posting several promotional messages about the fake Guns N’ Roses meme coin.

"In 2 hours, we're launching a meme coin on SOLANA. Stay tuned..." the hackers posted, pinning a post claiming they will "invest $1M in $GUNS in the next hour" to generate artificial excitement.

Those posts have since been deleted, though the token remains live on PumpFun, albeit with just some $3,300 in value left.

You Ain’t the First

This isn’t the first time that meme coin hackers have targeted a hard rock band; in June last year, American heavy metal band Metallica saw its Twitter account hacked to promote METAL, another Solana meme coin.

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The Twitter account of heavy metal band Metallica was apparently hacked late Tuesday and used to promote a Solana meme coin, continuing a recent trend of celebrities being targeted to share pump-and-dump scams purporting to be the real deal. Although the tweets—which included a Twitter Spaces audio call and replies to other users—were deleted within 90 minutes, the pimped METAL token saw more than $10 million in trading volume before crashing badly. The apparent scammers claimed the token was be...

The hackers used the band's brand colors and falsely claimed partnerships with Ticketmaster. The token reached a market cap of at least $10 million before crashing within hours.

The hacks represent a broader pattern targeting musicians and celebrities on the platform for clout, coin, or otherwise.

Anything Goes

The hack contrasts with Guns N' Roses' legitimate efforts to use emerging technologies.

In February last year, the band made headlines for their innovative use of AI in the music video for "The General," with design agency Creative Works London using Stable Diffusion to create dreamlike visuals over Unreal Engine renders.

How Guns N' Roses Used AI to Create Wild New Music Video 'The General'

Music videos have long served as testbeds for new technology, from the 3D characters populating Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” to the pioneering CGI morphing techniques employed in Michael Jackson’s “Black or White.” Now, iconic hard rock band Guns N’ Roses has brought generative AI into the mix for their latest video to accompany new track “The General.” The band turned to Creative Works London, the studio that’s produced everything from animations for their live shows to music videos, for t...

The music video featured a young boy strolling across a trippy, magenta-tinted cyberpunk cityscape, with live footage of the band morphing into alien characters.

The AI-enhanced video included subtle Easter eggs with "G," "N," "R," and "A.I." elements—a deliberate artistic choice, rather than an unauthorized exploitation of the band's brand.