Public Enemy Hates That Oscars 2016 Used 'Fight the Power'

When the88th Annual Academy Awardskicked off from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday night, hostChris Rockcame out to the iconic rap groupPublic Enemy’s hit 1990 song “Fight the Power.” The song was also used to close out the ceremony, whereChris Rockmentioned the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Yesterday,Public Enemy’s Professor Griff spoke out against the awards ceremony’s use of the song in a statement toTMZ.

“The show can’t claim the blackness ofPublic Enemy’s message.”

TMZrevealed that the group doesn’t own the rights to license the song to the awards ceremony, with the rights belonging to Universal Music Group.Public Enemyfront man Chuck D. later took to hisTwitterpage to discuss the use of the song, and theOscars diversityissue. He says the song is “beyond” the group itself, although his statement wasn’t quite as pointed as Professor Griff’s. Here’s what he had to say in a series of tweets below.

“The song FightThe Power is beyond me & the crew. The point of the song is a call to making change eventually not just applauding the thought. Art speaking. Fight The Power. Make change. Demand respect. Do your own awards RIGHT & give indie artists & actors a chance to make a LIVING.”

Entertainment Weeklyalso spoke to the show’s music supervisor,Byron Phillips, who defended the use of the song. While there were othersongsin consideration, likeIsaac Hayes' iconicShafttheme song, they wanted to go with something more contemporary. Here’s what themusicsupervisor had to say below.

“[We wanted to] really set the tone for what the night was going to be and do something that was representative of Chris, and who Chris was, and the vibe and tone Chris wanted to set for the evening. There was obviously nothing more perfect than ‘Fight the Power’ for that. [‘Fight the Power’ is] such an anthem for our generation that it made more sense to, first of all, have a contemporary feel, and just [for] the association with what you think of when you think of Chris. I really had a debate whether or not Chris wanted to come out that aggressively with it. [Rock] was like, ‘Nuh-uh, I want to do ‘Fight the Power.’ There was no hesitation.”

While the host’sopening monologuewas widely discussed on social media, especially his take on the Academy’s diversity issues, it didn’t necessarily help boost viewership. The ceremony’sratingsdropped to an eight-year low, with 34.3 million viewers tuning in, down from last year’s 37.3 million viewers. What do you think aboutPublic Enemyspeaking out over the use of “Fight the Power” at the Oscars? Take a look at Chuck D.’s tweets below, and in case you missed it, check outChris Rock’s opening monologue below.