British band Chumbawamba has issued a statement asking New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters to stop using their hit song, ‘Tubthumping’, at rallies. Peters reportedly walked on stage to the song before delivering a speech covering political topics including plans to remove gender and sexuality lessons from the school curriculum. In the statement, Chumbawamba’s former lead guitarist Boff Whalley said the song was written as a “song of hope and positivity” and asked Peters to stop using it. Whalley continued by saying that the band “does not share any of Peter’s ideas on race relations”.
Dunstan Bruce, a former lead singer in the band, added that the song was written about the resilience of a mixed and migrant population coming together in Leeds. He said that the band had written “cease and desist” letters in response to right-wing politicians across the world using ‘Tubthumping’ at rallies. Meanwhile, Peters took to Twitter to address the controversy, saying: “The song worked like a charm for our first public meeting after the election. The over 700 people in the crowd thought so too.”
Peters leads the right-wing New Zealand First party and talked of “taking back our country” during his speech. The politician also issued criticism of the media’s attention paid to the story, stating that “It seems the media care more about the Chumbawamba story than we do”. Chumbawamba formed in the 1980s and had a number one hit in the UK and US with ‘Tubthumping’ in 1997. The band disbanded in 2012.
In other news, former Chumbawamba leader Dunstan Bruce recently discussed the band’s enmity with The Manic Street Preachers, suggesting the latter’s dislike of the band might be justified
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