Chuck D says firing Flavor Flav from Public Enemy was a hoax to promote new album

It was claimed that the rapper had been fired after refusing to support Bernie Sanders

Chuck D has claimed that his feud with Public Enemy member Flavor Flav was a hoax, after Flav was supposedly fired in March.

The stunt – where it was announced that Flav had been kicked out of the group over a disagreement involving his lack of support for Bernie Sanders – appears to have been an April Fools prank to help promote a surprise new album from Chuck’s project, Enemy Radio.

Loud is Not Enough is out now, and includes a single called “Food as a Machine Gun” that features both Chuck and Flav.

Speaking on the Uproxx podcast People’s Party, which was recorded on 10 March, Chuck said he had been inspired by Orson Welle’s War of the Worlds hoax (the response to which is a myth in itself).

“We felt that over the past few years, Flavor’s stock was low,” he said. “Anybody that could take a shot at him could get a good shot at him.”

He added that he felt his own reputation was solid due to the success of his project, Prophets of Rage.

“We already talked about this beforehand,” Chuck said of the prank. “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 f***in’ 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.

“There’s a select few that do know –that I had to let know – that me and Flav have been better than ever,” he added. “We takin’ April Fools. We takin’ it over. It’s April Flav Chuck Day.”

Flavor Flav has yet to address Chuck’s comments or the new music.