TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced last week that his state would seek to remove DC hardcore legends Bad Brains from the “Essential Hardcore” playlist on Spotify, multiple sources confirmed.
“A lot of people might not know this about me, but I’m a big fan of hardcore punk rock and roll,” said DeSantis in an interview from his home in RumChata Springs, Florida. “You look at my CDs you’ll find Third Eye Blind, Gin Blossoms, and Smash Mouth, I’ve been in the scene for a long time. But putting Bad Brains on the ‘Essential Hardcore’ playlist is nothing more than a woke revisionist history trying to make white people feel guilty. I mean, Bad Brains were nothing more than a reggae band that has no lasting legacy in the hardcore movement as far as I can tell.”
Bad Brains frontman HR spoke about the move while on tour with his latest band Everlasting Vibrations of Universal Awareness in Movement and Righteousness.
“Sounds like Mr. DeSantis was a little too inspired by our ‘Banned in D.C.’ song,” said HR. “These men deal in negativity. It’s their currency, whereas mine is only one of love and positivity. If they want to erase Bad Brains from the history book, that’s their prerogative albeit disappointing. If we’re not careful, Florida youth will never be exposed to Fishbone on their ska playlists, Living Colour on their rock playlists, or the Wu-Tang Clan in general. What a shame.”
Ibram X. Kendi is an author, professor, and activist, whose book “How to be Antiracist” is on DeSantis’ list of banned books in Florida schools.
“DeSantis is part of a long legacy of politicians seeking to maintain a white supremacist interpretation of American history,” said Kendi. “In this version of history, slavery had no lasting effect on Black Americans, Civil Rights solved racism, and apparently the single most influential hardcore band of all time was nothing more than a footnote in the history of the movement. In my book, I talk about the idea that you can only really have one of two perspectives on race in America: racist or antiracist. With people like DeSantis I think we need to introduce a third option: super fucking racist.”
At press time, the DeSantis administration offered an alternative list of artists to replace Bad Brains on the playlist, including Kid Rock, Disturbed, and a recently surfaced recording of Eric Clapton’s racist rant against immigrants from 1976.