Legendary British rock band Radiohead has a message for the Department of Homeland Security: stop using our music to plug Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to NBC News correspondent Sahil Kapur, the group released a statement on Friday in response to a promotional video for ICE that used their song “Let Down” without permission or rights.
“We demand that the amateurs in control of the ICE social media account take it down,” said the statement. “It ain’t funny, this song means a lot to us and other people, and you don’t get to appropriate it without a fight.”
“Also, go f— yourselves…” the statement concluded.
This is not the first time Radiohead has intervened against their music having any appearance of association with President Donald Trump. For the same reason, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood demanded the original song he composed for the 2017 film “Phantom Thread” to be removed from the Amazon/MGM documentary “Melania.” In response, director Marc Beckman insisted there were several other rock “heroes” who were eager for their music to go into the film — but couldn’t name one example.
Republicans have often faced anger from musicians whose songs have been used in GOP campaigns without permission. Last year, Kenny Loggins demanded his song “Danger Zone” be removed from an AI video of Trump in a fighter jet dropping feces onto “No Kings” protesters.
The issue goes back decades. In one of the most famous examples, Republicans routinely misappropriated Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 smash hit “Born in the U.S.A.,” a song with a patriotic-sounding melody and lyrics but which is actually a criticism of the Vietnam War and the U.S. government’s mistreatment of veterans. Springsteen is an outspoken critic of Trump and topped the charts in January with his anti-ICE protest song “Streets of Minneapolis.”
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