A few weeks back while COVID-19 was still only looming in the background, the music world was ‘shocked’ by Chuck D’s announcement that Flavor Flav was fired from Public Enemy after Flav served Chuck D with “a cease and desist over the group’s appearance at a Bernie Sanders campaign rally.”
But, now both Pitchfork and Consequence of Sound (COS) report that the whole thing was just an elaborate hoax aimed to promote Public Enemy’s new album. Or, to be more precise, “a new collaborative project between Chuck D and Flavor Flav,” as COS puts it.
Still keeping a sense of humor, the true nature of “the firing” was announced on April 1, April Fool’s day. Hopefully, people still have an appetite for it. As Pitchfork reports, Chuck D detailed the April Fool’s Joke during a recent appearance on Talib Kweli’s People’s Party podcast:
“We already talked about this beforehand. Public Enemy Radio went up at the Sanders rally. His lawyer sent out a cease and desist. I’m like, ‘Good move.’ Then, publicly: ‘Man, you don’t fuckin’ sue me again.’ He ain’t suin’ me. But I can say it! If the public is confused about this, that, whatever—they’re gonna be confused about what’s a lawsuit and what’s not. ‘Yo man you suing me again publicly? Boom. Fuck that. You’re fired dude. This is my last thing with you.’ OK. We knew what was gonna come. I’m not sayin’ it’s a hoax, I’m sayin’ that the original intention is to get your attention and not play attention, but get you to pay attention.”
Chuck D added that “he and Flavor Flav “have been better than ever,” and even if he did want to fire Flav from the group, he couldn’t. “He’s a partner. You can’t fire partners,” Chuck D explained.
