Just a day after it was officially announced that the new Rage Against the Machine featuring Chris Cornell would play the Ozzfest this summer, unconfirmed reports have surfaced stating that Cornell has left the group. 

What may be true or just an internet rumor has caused quit a stir among Chris Cornell and Rage Against the Machine fans. On Friday (3-22) the Internet music site Pimp Rock Palace ran a story stating, �sources close to the Rage Against The Machine/Chris Cornell project have now confirmed that Chris Cornell has sadly quit the group.� Since then fans on the web have been reeling over the news on various message boards. Most fans are holding out hope that this is just a nasty rumor, as there has been no official word from the RATM camp.

One individual reported to be RATM�s political coordinator Posted the following message on the RATM message board at EZBoard.com, �The way I understand it, Chris left the band for reasons unknown, without even talking to his former bandmates about why. Since no one really knows what's going on, it's possible that he might reconcile and rejoin, but I'm not holding my breath. I don't know what the other Rage guys are going to do, and I'm sure that they don't yet either.� 

The Pimp Rock Palace article said the following, �The reasons for the split remain unclear, though it is rumored that Cornell's heart wasn't fully into the project and as such he was taking extremely long to finalize his vocal parts for the bands material, a factor which reportedly caused tension within the band, not too mention the album's constant delays. It is unknown at present is the departure is past the point of a reconciliation or not, though official word is expected shortly.�

Keep in mind that at the moment, aside from the reported political coordinator�s BBS comments, no one from the RATM camp has confirmed nor denied this rumor. We will keep a close eye on developments. 

Update 3/25: Allstar News (Cdnow.com) is reporting that Chris Cornell�s manager Jim Guerinot of Rebel Waltz, Inc. has confirmed that Cornell has left the band. No reason for Cornell's departure were given but Guerinot also said that the album the group has already recorded will be released by Epic sometime this summer. 

Needless to say, plans for the group to play the main stage on this year�s Ozzfest will not go off as planned.  
 

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