REM: Fox News must stop using ‘Losing My Religion’ during DNC
Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, and Peter Buck of R.E.M. perform during the NBC ‘Today’ show concert series at Rockefeller Center on April 1, 2008 in New York City.
REM ordered Fox News on Friday to stop using its song "Losing My Religion" during the network's coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
The band, which broke up last September after 31 years together, issued the following statement on its website:
“We have little or no respect for their puff adder brand of reportage. Our music does not belong there.”
REM said Fox News is not authorized or licensed to use its 1991 hit in the future.
The song was played as a tongue-in-cheek way for the cable news network to comment on the perceived lack of faith at the DNC, The Huffington Post reported.
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Although the first time REM has weighed in on the 2012 campaign, lead singer Michael Stipe is no stranger to political controversy.
During a 2003 interview with Katie Couric on the band's song "Bad Day," Stipe blasted conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, then-President George W. Bush and Republican strategist Karl Rove.
"It's a bad – it's a day for Rush Limbaugh, isn't it?" he asked Couric. "It's a bad day for Schwarzenegger. It’s a bad day for Bush. It’s a bad day for Rove. It’s a good day for me.”
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