Chuck D Says Flavor Flav’s Cease and Desist Letter to Sanders Campaign Is ‘Not About Bernie’
Public Enemy Frontman Chuck D opened up about the cease and desist letter sent by his former rap partner Flavor Flav to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, saying in a series of tweets Sunday that Flav’s issue is “not about BERNIE.”
Flav’s attorney sent a letter Friday to Team Sanders, telling them to stop using his likeness and Public Enemy’s name for his campaign. (Sanders’ campaign had announced a stop in Los Angeles last week with a poster using the title of Public Enemy’s famed song “Fight the Power” as a call to action for his campaign. The poster also said the rally will be Bernie Sanders and Public Enemy.)
Chuck D, who has publicly endorsed Sanders for the Democratic nominee for president, admonished those who ascribed the cease and desist letter to any perceived distaste by Flav of Sanders’ candidacy. Instead, he says that Flav isn’t politically involved.
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“It’s not about BERNIE with Flav… he don’t know the difference between Barry Sanders or Bernie Sanders, he don’t know either,” Chuck D tweeted, referencing an incident earlier this weekend when country singer Garth Brooks wore a Barry Sanders football jersey during a performance in Detroit, causing some to mistake it for an endorsement of the senator rather than a shoutout to the Detroit Lions legend.
“I don’t attack FLAV on what he don’t know,” Chuck D continued. “I gotta leave him at the crib so y’all trying to fill his persona with some political aplomb is absolutely stupid. Obviously I understand his craziness after all this damn time.”
Chuck D will perform on Sunday evening at a Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles as part of a spinoff group called Public Enemy Radio. While the poster includes the word “Radio” in the Public Enemy logo in smaller font, the news of the performance still brought out a response from Flav through his lawyers.
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“Sanders has promised to ‘Fight the Power’ with hip hop icons Public Enemy – but this Rap Icon will not be performing at the Sanders Rally,” Flavor Flav’s cease-and-desist letter sent Saturday read.
“To be clear Flav and, by extension, the Hall of Fame hip hop act Public Enemy with which his likeness and name have become synonymous has not endorsed any political candidate in this election cycle and any suggestion to the contrary is plainly untrue. The continued publicizing of this grossly misleading narrative is, at a minimum, careless and irresponsible if not intentionally misleading.”
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