Plot twist! Turns out Flavor Flav is still a member of Public Enemy. After a messy public feud, Chuck D has revealed that his beef with Flav was all a hoax.
Chuck announced in March that the group would continue without Flav after the hypeman slammed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Chuck D for using the group’s name as an endorsement, sending the campaign a cease and desist letter.
During an interview with Talib Kweli for Uproxx podcast People’s Party, Chuck revealed that he was inspired by Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds and that he wanted to change the public’s perception of Flav.
“We felt that over the past few years, Flavor’s stock was low,” Chuck said. “Anybody that could take a shot at him could get a good shot at him. I didn’t like that he was getting hammered in the media.”
Article continues after video.
The hoax came together pretty quickly with Chuck explaining that the cease and desist letter was a piece of cake to get from Flav’s lawyer. “Number one, Flavor don’t know the difference between Bernie Sanders, Barry Sanders or Colonel Sanders. We already talked about this beforehand. Public Enemy Radio went up, his lawyer said ‘I’ll cease and desist,’ I’m like, ‘good move.'”
Chuck doesn’t see to bothered by the possibility of backlash over the hoax, though. He told Kweli, “If the public is confused about this, that, whatever, they’re going to be confused about what’s a lawsuit and what’s not. I’m not saying it’s a hoax, I’m saying that the original intention is to get your attention… he can’t [get fired], he’s a partner. You don’t fire partners, you just walk away from them.”
“I don’t like this pull no f–king sh-t on people. Don’t trick and fool people…We’re taking April Fools. We’re taking it over. It’s April Flav Chuck Day.”