Michael Stipe Shits On Donald Trump And Others For Using An R.E.M. Song At A Rally

Another day, another musician slapping down a trick for using their song without permission.

The members of Survivor have already threatened to sue long-lost Duggar Kim Davis and Mike Huckabee for using “Eye of the Tiger” in that campy-as-shit post-jail rally, and now it’s R.E.M’s turn to tell politicians (and mutated piece of rotting butt corn Donald Trump) to keep their songs out of their rallies.

Salon says that Ted Cruz invited the current GOP presidential front runner Donald Trump to speak at a Tea Party rally in DC yesterday. An R.E.M. song played while Trump made his entrance. No, they didn’t use “Orange Crush” for his entrance, they used “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” which is pretty fitting. Michael Stipe and the other members of R.E.M. were not amused and released a statement on Facebook where they politely asked politicians to not use their songs without permission and also asked the public to not focus on dumb issues like songs being used in rallies. (I totally listened to them. Can’t you tell by this post?)

“While we do not authorize or condone the use of our music at this political event, and do ask that these candidates cease and desist from doing so, let us remember that there are things of greater importance at stake here. The media and the American voter should focus on the bigger picture, and not allow grandstanding politicians to distract us from the pressing issues of the day and of the current Presidential campaign.”

That’s nice, but I much prefer the raw and organic response that Michael Stipe screamed out later. R.E.M.’s bassist Mike Mills tweeted the beautiful slap down that came shooting out of Michael Stipe’s mouth. Tell us how you really, really feel, Michael Stipe.

“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 moronic charade of a campaign.”

Now that is a response. Stipe is speaking Trump’s language. Trump probably loves it, though. His video game energy bar rejuvenates every time he pisses somebody off, so for his next entrance song, the king of trollin’ is either going to use a Bruce Springsteen song or he’ll use “Independent Women, Pt. 1″ by Destiny’s Child, which would be pretty perfect, actually. I mean, his comment about Carly Fiorina’s face has made him the feminist icon of this and every generation!

Pic: Wenn.com