Radiohead is promising a fight after a choral version of its classic song “Let Down” was used without permission in a post on the U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Control’s official Instagram page.
“We demand that the amateurs in control of the I.C.E. social media account take it down,” the band says in a statement released today (Feb. 27). “It ain’t funny. This song means a lot to us and other people, and you don’t get to appropriate it without a fight. Also, go fuck yourselves.”
The I.C.E. video presents a montage of victims of violence allegedly perpetrated by “illegal aliens” who have been “raping and murdering” Americans. Its accompanying text says, “thousands of American families have been torn apart because of criminal illegal alien violence. American citizens raped and murdered by those who have no right to be in our country. This is who we fight for. This is our why.”
Long seen as a message of hope amid loss and confusion, “Let Down” was released on Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer and is one of the band’s most-streamed songs on Spotify, with more than 690 million plays.
This is the second time in recent weeks that Radiohead and its members have been on the wrong end of a music licensing dispute. Earlier this month, guitarist Jonny Greenwood demanded that a portion of the score he wrote for the 2017 Paul Thomas Anderson film Phantom Thread be removed from the recent documentary Melania. The artist said Universal failed to consult him on the usage, in breach of his composer agreement.
