Public Enemy’s Professor Griff Slams Oscars For Using ‘Fight The Power’

It’s not enough to talk about fighting the power — you actually have to fight it, says Public Enemy’s Professor Griff.

The hip-hop group’s Minister of Information slammed the Oscars’ use of its seminal protest anthem “Fight the Power,” claiming the Academy’s attempts to diversify Sunday’s telecast were a slap in the face to the song’s legacy, TMZ reported Tuesday.

Public Enemy crusaded for radical change, and bookending the star-studded fete with “Fight the Power” amid the #OscarsSoWhite controversy was mere lip service, Griff told the gossip site.

“The show can’t claim the blackness of Public Enemy’s message,” he said.

That message includes lyrics such as “To revolutionize make a change nothing's strange” and “Our freedom of speech is freedom or death / We got to fight the powers that be.”

Griff’s words were a harsher version of bandmate Chuck D’s take on Sunday’s ceremony.

“The song Fight the Power is beyond me & the crew,” tweeted the socially conscious rap group’s frontman. “The point of the song is a call to making change eventually, not just applauding the thought.”

Chuck D issued several other tweets throughout film’s biggest night — which host Chris Rock had already ignited with a fiery takedown of Hollywood’s lack of diversity — calling on the black community to support local artists over mainstream names.

“Art speaking. Fight The Power. Make change.Demand respect. Do your own awards RIGHT & give indie artists & actors a chance to make a LIVING,” he wrote.

“I dont wanna hear about Oscars being white. Oscar been white. We have need black communities to support our ARTS as much as we do sports IMO.”

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