Flavor Flav was fired from Public Enemy on Sunday after calling out U.S. presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders for claiming that the hip hop group was performing at his rally in Los Angeles.
“Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,” read a statement. “We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.”
The announcement came after Flav, whose real name is William Drayton Jr., had his lawyer send a cease and desist letter to the Sanders campaign.
“This Rap Icon will not be performing at the Sanders Rally,” it read, according to Spin. “To be clear Flav and, by extension, the 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.”
In a series of tweets overnight, Public Enemy’s Chuck D called Flav “ungrateful” and said Flav would have been at the Sanders rally if there was money involved.
“He will NOT do free benefit shows,” tweeted Chuck D. “Sued me in court the 1st time I let him back in. His ambulance lawyer sued me again on Friday & so now he stays home & better find REHAB.”
He added that Flav doesn’t know anything about politics. “So I don’t attack FLAV on what he don’t know.”
In the letter from Flav’s lawyer to the Sanders campaign, the hip hop icon acknowledged Chuck D is “free to express his political views as he sees fit [but] his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy.”