Flavor Flav Blasts Bernie Sanders LA Rally: 'There Is No Public Enemy Without Flavor Flav'
2/28/2020
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Flavor Flav attends the WNBA All-Star Game 2019 beach concert at the Mandalay Bay Beach at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on July 26, 2019 in Las Vegas.
The rapper is accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of using his “likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials” without his permission.
As it turns out,
Flavor Flav isn’t Feeling the Bern.
With
Public Enemy slated to perform at a
Bernie Sanders rally on Sunday in Los Angeles, a founding member of the legendary hip-hop group (a.k.a. William Drayton) is accusing the Vermont senator of misappropriating his likeness and promoting “a false narrative” that the group has endorsed his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“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,” reads an open letter written by attorney
Matthew H. Friedman of Nevada law firm Ford & Friedman that was sent to
Billboard on Friday (Feb. 28). “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 goes on to accuse the Sanders campaign of the unauthorized use of Flavor Flav’s “likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials” that have been circulated to promote the forthcoming rally, even though he will not be taking part 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,” the letter 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.”
The letter goes on to call the Sanders campaign a “fake revolution” and claims that Flav is “reaching out, not in the spirit of division, but for the sake of unity in the hope of preserving the integrity of the Public Enemy Movement and the faith and trust his millions of fans around the world have placed in him.”
When reached for comment, Chuck D sent the following statement to
Billboard: "Flavor chooses to dance for his money and not do benevolent work like this. He has a year to get his act together and get himself straight or he’s out."
In his own statement, a lawyer for Chuck D added, "From a legal standpoint, Chuck could perform as Public Enemy if he ever wanted to; he is the sole owner of the Public Enemy trademark. He originally drew the logo himself in the mid-80’s, is also the creative visionary and the group’s primary songwriter, having written Flavor’s most memorable lines.”
Flav has had a rocky relationship with Public Enemy over the years. In August 2017, the rapper
sued Chuck D and members of the group’s production and management team, claiming he had not been receiving royalties or been compensated for the sale of Public Enemy merchandise bearing his name and likeness, among other claims. He further alleged that Public Enemy’s last album, 2017’s
Nothing Is Quick in the Desert, was released without his knowledge or consent and included vocals “not up to his standards of quality.”