"He Has a Year to Get His Act Together" - Chuck D Threatens to Kick Flavor Flav Out of Public Enemy

(Photo by Scott Dudelson/WireImage)

"Flavor chooses to dance for his money and not do benevolent work like this."

Yesterday, Public Enemy's Flavor Flav issued a cease and desist request over the Bernie Sanders campaign's use of the group's likeness to promote a rally in Los Angeles. And while the Vermont senator has yet to respond, Chuck D, who is performing at today's event, will not go as quietly.

The rapper addressed Flav's criticism in a statement to HipHopDX, issuing a warning to his fellow co-founder. Drawing the ideological line, Chuck flatly hit back with "Flavor chooses to dance for his money and not do benevolent work like this." He caps his portion of the statement with the ultimatum, "[Flav] has a year to get his act together and get himself straight or he’s out."

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Chuck's lawyer picks up the baton from there, adding the legal grounds for the rapper's use of the band's name and logo. "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," the attorney explains in the statement.

All of which is to say, we may be in the final days of Public Enemy as we've known them. But the splintering began long before Chuck signed on for a Sanders campaign rally. In 2017, Flav filed suit against Eastlink (run by The Bomb Squad's Gary “G-Wiz” Rinaldo,) and Bring The Noise (Chuck's own company,) for missing payments related to merch and album sales. The suit was dismissed last year.

Regarding his performance at the rally, Chuck explained "It’s no longer tolerable to just pontificate and not do shit. The Bernie rally is not so much of an endorsement as it is common ass sense. People gotta realize, whoever they vote for isn’t going to be Jesus."