Flavor Flav Blasts Bernie Sanders Rally With Public Enemy

Bernie Sanders‘ upcoming rally in Los Angeles that will feature Public Enemy isn’t sitting right with P.E. hype man and rhymer Flavor Flav who has denounced the event.

The announced rally is set to go down on Sunday (March 1) at the Los Angeles Convention Center and feature Public Enemy performing. However, Flav has made it clear he wants no parts in the endeavor.

On Friday (Feb. 28) Flav released a statement to Billboard blasting the campaign.

“We have become aware that Flavor’s bandmate and Public Enemy co-creator, Chuck D, has endorsed Bernie Sanders’ candidacy for President and plans to perform at an upcoming Sanders Rally,” the statement written by Flav’s attorney Matthew H. Friedman of Nevada law firm Ford & Friedman reads in part. “While Chuck is certainly free to express his political views as he sees fit—his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy. The planned performance will only be Chuck D of Public Enemy, it will not be a performance by Public Enemy. Those who truly know what Public Enemy stands for know what time it is, there is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav.”

The letter proceeds to call out Sanders’ use of trademarked material reportedly without Flav’s consent and calls the ad for the planned rally “grossly misleading.”

“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,” the statement continues. “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.”

He adds, “Flav has always delivered his authentic self. That authenticity compels him to speak out to ensure voters are not misled and that Public Enemy’s music does not become the soundtrack of a fake revolution.” See the entire statement on Billboard.

This isn’t the first time Chuck D and Flavor Flav have not seen eye to eye. Back in 2017, Flav sued Chuck D over royalties he claimed he was owed for the use of his voice and likeness on the group’s Nothing Is Quick in the Desert album.