James Hetfield has apparently apologized to Kip Winger over Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" video, but Lars Ulrich has not.

As for why either would need to apologize to Winger, you may recall that in the "Nothing Else Matters" video, there's a shot of Ulrich standing next to a photo of the "Seventeen" singer with darts sticking out of it.

Speaking with the Appetite for Distortion podcast, Winger shares, "[Lars has] never apologized, but James Hetfield called me about a year and a half ago and apologized for the incident."

"James is a kind of guy I could totally be friends with," Winger continues. "He was very sincere, it wasn't like he just called to apologize and then blow me off. He's actually texted me a few times, we text every now and then. I don't think Lars would ever call me to apologize."

As for what inspired the diss in the first place, Winger muses, "I think everybody was just young kids, and they were thinking it was funny."

"To me, it's not funny to slag off a fellow musician," he says. "But, who knows? I mean, they were just doing what they were doing."

The "Nothing Else Matters" video hit 1 billion views on YouTube in 2021. The moment with the Winger poster happens around the 2:55 mark.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.