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Public Enemy member Chuck D is asking his fans not to take one of their songs out of context regarding the deadly Los Angeles fires.
The rapper took to his Instagram account on January 9 to criticize those who used Public Enemy’s song “Burn Baby Burn” when discussing the devastating fires.
“‘Burn Hollywood Burn’ is a protest song taken from the Watts rebellion nicknamed by the magnificent Montague in 1965 against inequality when he said ‘burn the baby’ on the air. We created revolutionary thinking songs intended for one-sided exploitation by an industry,” his post said.
“It has nothing to do with families losing everything they had in a natural disaster. Learn the history. God bless those who lost,” he concluded.
Across social media, people have been mentioning the song in social media posts to share their thoughts on the ongoing fires.
In 1990 Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane put out a song. ‘Burn Hollywood, Burn’. It’s about the lack of representation of black people in the entertainment industry. Ironically DEI is part of the problem in California as it burns down. This is still a great song but difficult🎙️ pic.twitter.com/y4ctkRAWyp
– Kildzr (@kildzr) January 9, 2025
According to CBS, 10 people have died in the ongoing fires and more than 10,000 buildings and other structures have been destroyed. The largest fire was the Palisades Fire and it spread more than 31 miles. The smallest fires were the Hurst and Lidia fires, which burned 771 acres and 394 acres, respectively.
Chuck D’s words come as a number of celebrities have completely lost their homes or been forced to evacuate. This includes Travis Barker’s children, Alabama Barker and Landon Barker. They shared that they were evacuating the area in separate social media posts.
Alabama said: “Just evacuated my home due to wildfire in Los Angeles, please be safe!! They said the fire was spreading to the soccer field in a matter of seconds,” Alabama said while her brother expressed prayers for the others.
“Just evacuated, praying for everyone that the fire has passed [affected]”, he posted.
Britney Spears is one of the celebrities who had to evacuate recently, and she shared the news of her escape in a post to her Instagram account.
“I hope you all are okay!!! I had to evacuate my house and had to drive 4 hours to get to the hotel!!! I posted these adorable shoes to lift everyone’s spirits People !!!” she said.
Tags Chuck D, Public Enemy