Chuck D doesn’t care that he’s trending in the wake of announcing that Public Enemy has parted ways with animated hypeman and founding member Flavor Flav. But he does want to clear something up regarding the circumstances of Flav’s departure.
Hours after performing at the Bernie Sanders rally that sparked a conflict between the (now former) bandmates, Chuck D explained that this particular event may have expedited their parting of ways, but that this has been a pattern for years. Flav “will NOT do benefit shows,” he shared, and used a prior event for Harry Belafonte’s nonprofit organization as an example.
On Friday (Feb. 28), Flav shared an open letter written by his legal representation regarding a Sanders event that took place in Los Angeles on Sunday (March 1) in which he took issue with the fact Public Enemy was seemingly advertised as playing the event, when in reality Chuck D was the one slated to perform.
Chuck D responded on Sunday by pointing out that Flav has always refrained from mixing his music with activism, social justice or politics: “It’s not about BERNIE with Flav… he don’t know the difference between Barry Sanders or Bernie Sanders he don’t know either… So I don’t attack FLAV on what he don’t know. I gotta leave him at the crib so y’all trying to fill his persona with some political aplomb is absolutely stupid.”
Hours after his sending those tweets, Public Enemy released a brief statement saying the group would be moving on without him thanking Flav for his service.
