Flavor Flav Hits Bernie Sanders With Cease & Desist Over Public Enemy Rally

Source: David Crotty / Getty

While a lot of fans were really excited to see Public Enemy and Bernie Sanders join forces for an upcoming rally, one pretty important piece to the puzzle was not on board: Flavor Flav.

Shortly after the initial announcement came news that Flavor Flav issued a cease and desist over Public Enemy’s performance at The Senator’s rally.  “The planned performance will only be Chuck D of Public Enemy, it will not be a performance by Public Enemy,” attorney Matthew H. Friedman wrote in a letter to Sanders. “Those who truly know what Public Enemy stands for know what time it is, there is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav.”

Flav is also objecting to the “unauthorized use of his likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials circulated by the campaign and its network of online operatives in support of Bernie’s upcoming rally.”

But the leader of the famous hip-hop duo, Chuck D, isn’t backing down from the planned performance. He gave a statement to Billboard in which he fired back, saying “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.” A lawyer for Chuck D also told the publication that he is the sole owner of the trademark.

While Flavor Flav and his attorney assert that this whole rally was false advertising, the Sanders campaign did announce that the rally in Los Angeles that would feature a performance from Public Enemy Radio, not Public Enemy. The group distinguishes itself from Public Enemy in that it does not feature Flavor Flav.