Chuck D Kicks Flavor Flav Out of Public Enemy
After days of turmoil over the group's appearance at a Bernie Sanders rally, Flavor Flav's run with Public Enemy is officially over.
On Sunday night (March 1), founding member Chuck D announced he was relieving Flav of his duties via a statement released to XXL. "Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav," the statement reads. "We thank him for his years of service and wish him well."
Following the rally, Chuck expounded on the current situation with Flav on Twitter. "Spoke @BernieSanders rally with @EnemyRadio. If there was a $bag, Flav would’ve been there front & center," he posted. "He will NOT do free benefit shows. Sued me in court the 1st time I let him back in. His ambulance lawyer sued me again on Friday & so now he stays home & better find REHAB."
Chuck added, "I heard I’m trending, like I care . I built @EnemyRadioRS so it does benefits & fundraisers ... He said he never gonna do them. So his refusal to do @HarryBelafonte #ManyRiversFestival in Atlanta 2016 was my last time. I built Enemy Radio to get far away from that ridiculousness."
The unceremonious break-up comes after things got contentious over Public Enemy's appearance at presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders' rally in Los Angeles on Sunday. A day after the event was announced on Thursday (Feb. 27), Flav had his lawyer send out a cease and desist letter to Sanders and vehemently denied any involvement in the event.
“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,” Flav's statement reads in part. “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.”
This isn't the first time Flav has been at odds with the group. Flav sued Chuck in 2017 for royalties over the group's Nothing Is Quick in the Desert album.
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