Radiohead is the latest band angered at getting played by Donald Trump and his minions.
In response to a promotional video for Immigration and Customs Enforcement that features a version of the Radiohead song “Let Down,” the band released a tell-us-how-you-really-feel statement to the press.
After the promo was shared on the social media accounts of Donald Trump, the White House and DHS, Radiohead responded, “We demand that the amateurs in control of the ICE social media account take it down. 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,” the statement concludes, “go f-ck yourselves.”
The song was first released on the band’s career-making 1997 album OK Computer. In the ICE promo, the song plays as faces appear that the administration says are victims of “criminal illegal alien violence.”
Towards the end of the 40-second clip, the words “This is our why” appear, as if explaining or justifying ICE actions.
The British band is demanding that the video be taken down, joining a lengthy and ever-growing roster of musicians who have spoken out against the use of their music by the Trump Administration. Aerosmith, Queen, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, R.E.M, Adele, Rihanna, Neil Young, Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, the estates of Isaac Hayes and Sinéad O’Connor, Sabrina Carpenter and SZA, among others, have objected to their music accompanying MAGA messaging.
During Trump’s first term, Broadway icon Betty Buckley, who starred in the original Broadway production of Cats and sang the score’s “Memory” (a song beloved and oft-used by Trump at rallies) campaigned against its use and encouraged composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to put a stop to the practice. Lloyd Webber’s attorneys sent the Trump campaign a cease and desist letter in 2020.
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