Lindsey discusses his firing (Rolling Stone)

[cbBen]

Here's what I think happened:

1. In November 2017 Lindsey and the rest of the band reach an impasse as Lindsey requests that they delay their tour to Nov. 2018
2. With Petty having passed away and Mike Campbell now available, Stevie and Mick plan to fire Lindsey, but with Musicares scheduled must wait for the moment
3. Lindsey meanwhile backs off his demand and agrees to tour as originally scheduled, but it's "too little too late" as Stevie and Mick have already planned to fire him (and, after Musicares, do)

Musicares probably wasn't even the final straw. They just needed to wait until it was over before they could make changes.

So in Stevie and Mick's mind the demand to delay the tour was the impetus for the breakup, while in Lindsey's mind that's a lie because he had agreed before his firing to accommodate their preferred tour schedule. (The thing is, however, that without the Musicares event, the band would have probably fired him sooner, before Lindsey backed off his request to delay the tour.)

One thing's for sure: They should never have let him delay his solo album and tour if they knew they were going to fire him regardless.