Tom Morello Blasts UKIP Leader For 'Racist' Use of RATM

UKIP leader Nigel Farage retorts unsuccessfully   23-Sep-12

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello has blasted UKIP leader Nigel Farage on Twitter for using one of the band's songs at the right wing UK political party's annual party conference.

Morello wrote:

"Hey UKIP & Nigel Farage: Stop using "KILLING IN THE NAME" for ur racist/rightwing rallies. We are against everything u stand for. STOP. IT."

The party have also been criticised in the past for using a song by Chumbawamba, who publicly expressed their outrage at the time, saying in a statement:

"Nigel Farage is an arse, his party is mainly made up of bigots and its policies are racist."

The band have recently split up, failing to match the heights of their success in the 90s, and Nigel Farage cited the fate of the band as an example in a retort to Tom Morello:

"Remember what happened to chumbawumba shortly after they moaned at UKIP?"

Apart from displaying the fact that he cannot spell the names of the bands whose music he uses, Farage may have made a bit of a faux pas in comparing Rage Against The Machine to Chumbawamba, suggesting that the latter's break-up may have been due to taking on UKIP, and that a band of Rage's stature would be somehow susceptible to a backlash to UKIP, which is one of the lesser known political parties in the UK.

That said, they are making headway in the UK with voters who feel disenfranchised with the major parties, increasing membership over the past few years.

Nigel Farage used 'Killing in the Name of' when walking on to the stage to address his party members at the UKIP conference.

It's not the first time a band has expressed bemusement at their song being used at a political conference, and it's not the first time Rage Against The Machine have requested to be disassociated with right-wing politicians.

After it came to light that Paul Ryan was a fan of the band, Tom Morello wrote a column for Rolling Stone, claiming:

"...he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades". 

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Amped Editor
@sonicamped