# Flavor Flav kicked out of legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795 "2020-03-02T16:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/1 "2020-03-02T16:22:31Z")
[Story here](https://1010wins.radio.com/articles/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-hip-hop-group-public-enemy) Just when you thought this Presidential campaign could not get any more surreal: > [@](#): > > Flavor Flav was kick out of the legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy on Sunday, after Flav issued a cease and desist letter to Bernie Sanders’ campaign last week. > > Sanders was accused of ‘deceptive marketing’, saying they were engaging in the unauthorized use of Flavor Flav’s “likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials.” > > “Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,” the group said in a statement Sunday. “We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/2 "2020-03-02T16:27:49Z")
I saw that this morning and thought it was really bizarre. You mean to tell me they’re choosing a 78-year-old politician over a founding member of the group? That seems a bit messed up. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/3 "2020-03-02T16:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Bernie Sanders posted on Instagram saying "Los Angeles, I’m excited to announce I will be back in California this Sunday for a rally with\*\* Dick Van Dyke\*\*… Say what you will about Bernie, he knows how to garner support from multiple sides. I literally don’t think I could could up with two entertainers (or groups, eg Public Enemy) that are more different. While both being awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/4 "2020-03-02T16:32:50Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I saw that this morning and thought it was really bizarre. You mean to tell me they’re choosing a 78-year-old politician over a founding member of the group? That seems a bit messed up. Chuck D mentions Flav’s drug problems at the link. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/5 "2020-03-02T16:36:15Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I saw that this morning and thought it was really bizarre. You mean to tell me they’re choosing a 78-year-old politician over a founding member of the group? That seems a bit messed up. It sounds to me like they’ve been performing without him for a while. It’s only now that he’s issuing a C&D that they’re kicking him out officially. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/6 "2020-03-02T16:39:15Z")
Well, that’ll teach me to only read entertainment headlines and not the story itself, boyeee! ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/7 "2020-03-02T16:44:23Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Say what you will about Bernie, he knows how to garner support from multiple sides. I literally don’t think I could could up with two entertainers (or groups, eg Public Enemy) that are more different. While both being awesome. If it helps, Bon Iver also played a Bernie rally before the Iowa caucus. The musical support for Sanders is _wildly_ diverse. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/8 "2020-03-02T16:55:01Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Say what you will about Bernie, he knows how to garner support from multiple sides. I literally don’t think I could could up with two entertainers (or groups, eg Public Enemy) that are more different. While both being awesome. Also at that rally, Sarah Silverman. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/9 "2020-03-04T14:53:44Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Well, that’ll teach me to only read entertainment headlines and not the story itself, boyeee! Wasn’t headlines over here but: that’ll teach me to only read thread titles and not the thread itself. Golly. j ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/10 "2020-03-04T14:57:17Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Chuck D mentions Flav’s drug problems at the link. He implies Flav is only wanting to make money to support his drug problem. I didn’t even know Public enemy was still together. > [@](#): > > Chuck D, one of the group members, accused Flavor on Twitter, of only wanting money to support his addictions. > > "If there was a $bag, Flav would’ve been there front & center. He will NOT do free benefit shows, Chuck D said. “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.” ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/11 "2020-03-04T18:12:17Z")
Personally I think Chuck has shown tremendous patience and understanding over the past 20+ years as Flav has led a life that is the literal antithesis of the values Public Enemy espoused in their music. Chuck rode with him through the drugs and watched him sell out over and over and over again on reality TV and I don’t recall him ever saying a negative word. Obviously Flav has/had no obligation to live his life by any rules other than his own but the hip hop community and fandom washed their hands of that dude long before the first episode of Flavor of Love was on the air and it looks like Chuck has finally had enough. My new favorite Chuck D quote: “Flavor chooses to dance for his money and not do benevolent work…” ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/12 "2020-03-04T20:26:00Z")
> [@BeagleJesus](#): > > Personally I think Chuck has shown tremendous patience and understanding over the past 20+ years as Flav has led a life that is the literal antithesis of the values Public Enemy espoused in their music. Chuck rode with him through the drugs and watched him sell out over and over and over again on reality TV and I don’t recall him ever saying a negative word. > > Obviously Flav has/had no obligation to live his life by any rules other than his own but the hip hop community and fandom washed their hands of that dude long before the first episode of Flavor of Love was on the air and it looks like Chuck has finally had enough. > > My new favorite Chuck D quote: “Flavor chooses to dance for his money and not do benevolent work…” Yeah, I agree. I think to an extent Chuck wanted to let Flav go get his money because the music money wasn’t as good as their peak and not being a songwriter\* Flav had to depend on performing to generate more income and pay for his stuff and child support. Flav sued for royalties at one point and I don’t think it was fruitful. Many will say he’s an essential part of the performing act Public Enemy, but the reality is Chuck D is Public Enemy as far as the creative force and business/philanthropy. Flav is a glorified hypeman. There are plenty of bands/musical acts that have members that don’t add to the creative process at all and are fortunate to remain and receive compensation. It’s standard that there are leaders that control decisions and/or the lion’s share of the income/royalties due to songwriting credits and other factors. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flavor-flav-kicked-out-of-legendary-hip-hop-group-public-enemy/848795/13 "2020-03-05T02:29:18Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Many will say he’s an essential part of the performing act Public Enemy, but the reality is Chuck D is Public Enemy as far as the creative force and business/philanthropy. Flav is a glorified hypeman. Pretty true. But I do think Public Enemy loses something with Flav. He’s a nice counterpoint to Chuck’s seriousness. But I do understand the decision.