As previously reported, Dillon, immediately following NIN's Wednesday night (9/28) show in Sacramento, was hospitalized for the second time during the band's current tour, and subsequently returned to Los Angeles to "undergo tests for problems related to a heart condition discovered earlier this month," according to NIN's website.

NIN has since postponed until Nov. 19 its planned Friday (9/30) show in Oakland, but does not intend to scrap any additional dates, and plans to forge ahead with a yet-to-be-named replacement drummer, according to the site.

Meanwhile, bandleader Trent Reznor, in a message posted Thursday (9/29) at NIN's website, lashed out at rumors that Dillon's ailment is the result of substance abuse.

"I really should know better by now, but I have read some [Internet bulletin boards] and feel the need to explain a few things," Reznor wrote. "Jerome Dillon does not have a drinking or drug problem. His illness is not the result of abuse, nor are there any purposefully vague statements about what's really going on with him. I am sure he is as frustrated and upset with the situation as everybody else. This is not his fault. ... Jerome is a great drummer and a great guy. We all wish him the best and hope to see him behind the drums again soon. At the present time, his performing live with us places him in a potentially very harmful situation."

Reznor's remarks echo those of NIN's manager, Jim Guerinot, who sounded off in the San Diego Reader following Dillon's first trip to the hospital, which occurred in San Diego during the Sept. 16 kick-off of the band's fall arena tour.

"It wasn't drugs," Guerinot told the publication. "Trent is sober. He wouldn't have anyone doing drugs on his team. Jerome is not a drug taker. He's the one guy in the band who ends up in the gym with Trent.

"Everyone was overworked," he continued. "And drummers tend to work harder, anyway. Everyone [backstage] thought he was having a heart attack."

Guerinot went on to say that Dillon experienced and "atrial fibrillation."

In his Thursday (9/29) website posting, Reznor went on to address fan speculation about his relationship with the rest of his band.

"... I don't spend that much backstage and offstage time with the band, because their agenda is different from my own," he wrote. "They occasionally drink and party--I don't."

Reznor also defended his remarks about the crowd at the band's Wednesday (9/28) show in Sacramento, which, in a previous message, he described as "the least responsive audience I can ever remember playing to."

"... Some of you seem to have taken offense to comments I've made here about the audience in Sacramento," Reznor wrote in his follow-up missive. "This area of the site is not for press releases or sanitized versions of anything. That was how I felt, and that's that. Not every show is a great experience. A lot of our performance draws from the energy and reaction of the crowd. It felt to me (and everyone else in the band) like we were punching a brick wall for 90 minutes with nothing coming back, and that was frustrating. It happens sometimes. It IS frustrating. We're not pretending or going through the motions when we're onstage and these factors affect us and the show."

NIN's tour is currently scheduled to resume Saturday (10/1) in Los Angeles.