Blabbermouth reports Mike Portnoy, Dream Theater drummer has ‘slammed the BLABBERMOUTH.NET “idiots” ‘ who have claimed the band were forced to swap its headlining slot at Italy’s Gods of Metal festival with Heaven and Hell.

A statement issued by Dream Theater states they: “respectfully offered to swap positions on the bill for Italy's Gods of Metal festival and offer our closing slot to HEAVEN AND HELL. We will both play equal set lengths, but out of our respect for the BLACK SABBATH legacy, we thought it was appropriate that HEAVEN AND HELL close the show.”

Due to the reactions of the above statement, Portnoy gave the following message via his official forum: “It's funny (well actually, not really) that all of the idiots at Blabbermouth are insisting that we were forced into doing this swap…when it couldn't be further from the truth!! What happened is *EXACTLY* as I stated….I picked up the phone and called our manager and asked for him to respectfully offer the swap to HEAVEN AND HELL… and of course, they accepted.

“It's so annoying how some of these people twist the truth….

“These Blabbermouth idiots are the same people who insist that we were 'dropped' by Elektra/Atlantic/Warner — which also couldn't be further from the truth, as THEY kept US all these years when we would've been VERY HAPPY to have been dropped and cut free…”