Veteran US rock group REM have slammed Donald Trump and fellow US politicians after their hit track, It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) was used during a rally in Washington today.
Just hours after fellow rockers Survivor blasted a rally group for the using their own song without authorisaton, REM's frontman Michael Stipe took to Twitter (using guitarist Mike Mill's account) to express his outrage that the 1987 song had been used without permission.
As Rolling Stone reports, Trump and fellow presidential candidate Ted Cruz appeared together at a rally condemning President Barack Obama's recent nuclear deal with Iran and were introduced with REM's song playing in the background.
While the band released a formal statement via their Facebook, stating that "The media and the American voter should focus on the bigger picture," Stipe was far more informal when he addressed the song's use at the rally online.
"Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you," Stipe tweeted.
"...you sad, attention grabbing, power-hungry little men."
See the full set of tweets below.
The R.E.M. statement will be regarding Trump's use of our song. Nothing more than that!
— Mike Mills (@m_millsey) September 9, 2015
Upcoming is Michael's statement about Trump using our song at the rally. His opinions are HIS, please do not tweet angry responses at me.
— Mike Mills (@m_millsey) September 9, 2015
"Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you--you sad, attention grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your 1)
— Mike Mills (@m_millsey) September 9, 2015
...moronic charade of a campaign."--Michael Stipe
— Mike Mills (@m_millsey) September 9, 2015
