Depending on whom you ask, the recent split between Panic! at the Disco and bassist Brent Wilson was either completely amicable or decidedly the opposite.

Late Wednesday, Panic announced Wilson's departure on their Web site, posting a statement that was both diplomatic and entirely inscrutable. On one hand, it contained all the usual platitudes that accompany a split ("He is a great friend of ours," "He will definitely be missed," "We wish him all the best"), yet it failed to mention any reason why Wilson is leaving Panic.

And perhaps because of this vagueness -- coupled with the puzzling timing of the announcement (Panic's debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, was recently certified gold, and the band will kick off its first-ever North American headlining tour early next month; see [article id="1527584"]"Panic! At The Disco Announce First Headlining North American Tour"[/article]) -- many fans began to suspect that there was more to Wilson's departure than first meets the eye.

Adding fuel to the fire was an angry stream of comments posted on MySpace.com by a person claiming to be Wilson's brother, stating that Wilson was ejected from the band for monetary reasons. Panic have already announced that their friend Jon Walker will be replacing Wilson, at least for the time being.

Fans on Panic's official messageboard were equally upset by the split, flooding the site with posts that ran the gamut from strangely vengeful ("Someone please confirm this, cause if it's true I need to burn my concert tickets") to seemingly confused ("It's really sad for him to leave. God, how come Panic is sooo good, but they have to ruin it? Brent already knows all the notes").

So what was the real reason for the departure? Well, according to guitarist Ryan Ross, it was simply a matter of all four bandmembers sitting down and deciding it was time for Wilson to go.

"It was a decision we all came to as a band, and reached an understanding on. It was really tough because we are all so close, but we feel like we left it in a good place," Ross wrote in an e-mail to MTV News. "It was a group decision, on all levels, and one we all came to together."

Ross went on to address the band's fans, asking them to look beyond the conspiracy theories and just realize that this type of thing happens to bands all the time.

"It's a shame [that fans are so upset]. We are going to continue to be the same band, and nothing about our music has changed. It's unfortunate that we are without one of our original members, but it doesn't change us and we hope that people will continue to enjoy our music and not write us off because of this," he wrote. "The tour won't be affected at all -- we are so excited to head out and play for everyone. We have some really exciting production elements and additional players involved."

A spokesperson for the band said Wilson was not available for comment at press time.