Public Enemy FIRE Flavor Flav amid Bernie Sanders rally drama

The iconic hip hop group Public Enemy fired its controversial hype man Flavor Flav on Sunday.

Two days earlier, Flavor Flav, 60, had issued a cease and desist to Bernie Sanders’ campaign ahead of a rally in Los Angeles featuring a performance by a version of Public Enemy.

In a statement released Sunday evening, the band said it was ‘moving forward’ without Flav, officially ending his 37-year career with the group.

‘Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,’ the group announced. ‘We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.’

Technically, Sunday’s rally performance was billed to Public Enemy Radio, an offshoot of the group led by Chuck D, 59, and featuring DJ Lord, Jahi and the S1Ws, but not Flav.

The hype man’s cease and desist took issue with what he said was ‘the unauthorized use of [Flavor Flav’s] likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials circulated by the [Sanders] campaign.’

‘While Chuck is certainly free to express his political view as he sees fit — his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy,’ reads an excerpt of the letter.

‘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 excerpt continues.

At the end of the letter, Flavor Flav added a hand-written note stating, ‘Hey Bernie, don’t do this!!’

Flavor Flav (real name: William Drayton) has been in conflict with the group since 2017, when he sued Chuck D and the band’s management firm over unpaid royalties and merchandise profits.

Chuck D (real name: Carlton Ridenhour) added a pointed statement that seemed to indicate his partnership with Flavor Flav was coming to an end shortly after the cease and desist was sent.

‘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,’ Chuck D said.

Chuck D’s lawyer 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,’ he added.

Chuck D also fired a few shots at Flavor Flav on Twitter as well, stating, ‘my last straw was long ago.’   

‘It’s not about BERNIE with Flav… he don’t know the difference between BarrySanders or BernieSanders he don’t know either,’ Chuck D said.

‘FLAV refused to support @Sankofa (a social justice organization founded by Harry Belafonte) after @HarryBellafonte inducted us. He don’t do that,’ Chuck added.

‘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,’ he added.

‘Obviously I understand his craziness after all this damn time. Duh you don’t know him from a box of cigars or me either,’ the rapper concluded.