British band Chumbawamba has asked Winston Peters and New Zealand First to stop using their music at political events and said they are working on a cease and desist notice.
In a statement to 1News, the punk outfit said they had asked Peters to stop using their 1997 hit Tubthumping – which was frequently played at his campaign events during the election.
The band said they "would like to make it clear that we did not give permission for Peters to use the song and would ask him to stop using it to try to shore up his misguided political views".
"Chumbawamba does not share any of Peters' ideas on race relations and would like to remind him that the song was written for and about ordinary people and their resilience, not about rich politicians trying to win votes by courting absurd conspiracy theories and spouting misguided racist ideologies."
They said the song was one of "hope and positivity" and said it seems "entirely odd that the 'I get knocked down...' refrain is being used" by Peters "as he barks his divisive, small-minded, bigoted policies during his recent speeches".
The group said they had asked their record company, Sony, to issue a cease and desist notice.
Peters issued a statement of his own on X, saying the story had been "initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show how my comments about these sorts of media organisations are correct".
He said New Zealand First had not received any "cease and desist phone call, email, letter, or anything of the sort" from the band – "and we don't expect to".
"If the reporter had any clue of the law, and not just some opinionated fake news headline, they wouldn't have bothered publishing this nonsense."
This morning, he issued a follow-up tweet: "It seems the media care more about the Chumbawamba story than we do. We actually don't care. There's nothing to 'cease or desist'.
"The song worked like a charm for our first public meeting after the election. The over 700 people in the crowd thought so too.
"We will be sure to file the 'cease and desist' letter in a safe place if it ever arrives."
As well as taking aim at the news media, Peters criticised the band.
"I would use another of their hit song titles as a quip at the end of this post but unfortunately they only had one," he wrote.
It comes after the Deputy Prime Minister made headlines this week over a reference to Nazi Germany while delivering his State of the Nation speech over the weekend.
During the speech, he took aim at the previous Labour government's "race-based theory", alluding to co-governance, "where some people's DNA... made them somehow better than others".
"I've seen that sort of philosophy before. I saw it in Nazi Germany, we all did."
Peters has since claimed the comments referenced those made by Te Pati Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi last year. Waititi allegedly said Māori genetics are stronger than others.
Peters doubled down on the comments when speaking to RNZ, saying: "I'm not backing down one iota."
On Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he planned to discuss Peters' comments with him, saying it was "not what I would say".
Luxon said, in general, there was a need for everyone to be careful with their language, including Labour leader Chris Hipkins likening the Government to a "dictatorship" last week — for its use of urgency to progress laws — and Te Pāti Māori's use of the words "white supremacist" to describe some of the coalition government's policies.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins and Peters had traded barbs over the speech, with Hipkins saying Peters was behaving like a "drunk uncle at a wedding".
Peters returned by saying Hipkins' comment was "laughable coming from someone who would get drunk on a wine biscuit".
Tubthumping spent three consecutive weeks at second the UK charts when it was released.
In New Zealand, it finished 1997 in the top 50 singles of the year.
Chumbawamba disbanded in 2012.
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