Music

Neil Young clarifies his political position: 'Fuck you, Donald Trump!'

by Jeremy Mersereau

Ol’ Shakey, the Godfather of Grunge, the Don-o of PONO, and now, you can add “The Trump Snubber” to the lengthy list of Neil Young’s nicknames. Young posted a Facebook message to all decrying Donald Trump’s practice of using “Rockin’ In The Free World” at campaign stops, despite the musician’s repeated entreaties to stop… and despite earlier reports that Young had no problem with Trump using the song.

“When I discovered that the candidate first used my song at his campaign launch, my management called his office and immediately requested he stop,” Young’s Facebook post says. “We thought he had. But now, unfortunately, I understand he is still using it.”

In an interview last May with Reuters, Young said he had “nothing against” Trump using the song, as Young “believed him” when Trump said he had a legal license to use “Rockin’ In The Free World.” However, according to Young the Reuters headline was “titillating and it is purposely misleading, it is not journalism it is tabloid reporting.” Well… yeah, welcome to 2016. Old man, take a look at my digital media environment and its devastating effect on the state of journalism.

Young continues: “After we asked him to stop using my music, he began hurling insults and then immediately released a photo to the media (again without my permission) to further mislead the public. The picture was taken when I visited his office while conducting various meetings with potential investors for my amazing sounding music company Pono, many months prior to his decision to become a candidate.” God damn it Neil, can’t you go one second without hawking your $400 Toblerone?

So who is Neil Young endorsing for President, if not The Donald? The answer… will not surprise you in the least. “I still support the issue focused, straight shooter Bernie Sanders, in my opinion, the best person for the job, hands down. The process is not over until its over” Young says, steadfastly feeling what remains of the Bern despite the prospect of a Sanders nomination looking more remote than his Decade album art.

Read Young’s statement in full here, and also enjoy the added bonus of a video of Young screaming “Fuck you, Donald Trump!” at a recent performance.

[h/t Consequence of Sound]