UK band Chumbawamba have reportedly asked their UK record label Sony Music to serve New Zealand First leader Winston Peters with a cease and desist letter over the use of one of their biggest songs.
The group is unhappy their 1997 hit 'Tubthumping' - with its lines "I get knocked down, But I get up again, You're not ever going to keep me down" - has been rolled out at New Zealand First rallies which have served up rhetoric drawing parallels with Nazi Germany.
In the speech at the Palmerston North Convention Centre, Peters delivered a State of the Nation speech which drew parallels between co-governance to Nazi Germany, discussed plans about removing gender and sexuality lessons and promised there was a "real chance to take back our country".
A statement sent by the band's former guitarist Boff Whalley to The Spinoff said he was unhappy the music was being used in such a context.
It was written "as a song of hope and positivity, so it seems entirely odd that the 'I get knocked down' refrain is being used by New Zealand's deputy prime minister Winston Peters as he barks his divisive, small-minded, bigoted policies during his recent speeches," Whalley said.
Newshub has approached Universal Music who represent the band in the New Zealand territory for confirmation the record company has sent a cease and desist.
Peters on Tuesday evening said the party had not "received any cease-and-desist phone call, email, letter, or anything of the sort from the former band nor any other representative - and we don’t expect to".
Politicians and music have become uneasy bedfellows over recent years, a conflict which has become more pronounced with former US president Donald Trump coming under fire for his use of music at campaign rallies across various states.
Artists including The Smiths' Johnny Marr, and the estates of Sinead O'Connor and Tom Petty had issued requests for Trump to stop using their songs during his rallies.
Earlier this month, O'Connor's estate said the Dublin-born singer would have been "disgusted, hurt, and insulted" by Trump's use of her version of the Prince song 'Nothing Compares 2 U'.
Back here, the National Party was found guilty of breaching copyright in 2017 for using an "Eminem-esque" track for their 2014 election ad.
They were initially told to pay $600,000 before it was reduced by the Court of Appeal to $225,000 in 2018.
