Flavor Flav has explained that his removal from Public Enemy has nothing to do with refusing to endorse presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
“I don’t have anything against Bernie,” he told The Guardian. ”I think he’s a good person and I wish him luck”.
He continued, “I think they’re all good people, except Trump. Some people tried to say I did this because I’m a Trump supporter and that’s not true. F**k Trump!”
When asked about politics, Flav responded: “I don’t deal with politics. Chuck D, he’s the politician of the group. I’m just the friendly jester.”
The news comes after Public Enemy founder and frontman Chuck D led a concert for the Sanders campaign in Los Angeles, without the involvement of the legendary hypeman.
Flav, whose real name is William Drayton, responded by sending a cease and desist letter to Sanders, who is currently one of the frontrunners in the Democratic contest to face Donald Trump in the presidential election in November.
In the letter, he said he objected to the use of Public Enemy as a tool for political endorsement. It accused Sanders’ campaign of advancing a “misleading narrative” that Public Enemy has endorsed him.
Flav took to Twitter to voice his feelings: “You wanna destroy something we’ve built over 35 years over politics?”
“Are you kidding me right now??? Over Bernie Sanders???” he said.
Public Enemy subsequently denied that the reason for Flav’s sacking was his stance on Sanders.
“Public Enemy did not part ways with Flavor Flav over his political views,” the statement read. “Flavor Flav has been on suspension since 2016 when he was MIA from the Harry Belafonte benefit in Atlanta, Georgia. That was the last straw for the group.
“He had previously missed numerous live gigs from Glastonbury to Canada, album recording sessions and photo shoots. He always chose to party over work.”
