Last year, before releasing What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down, their guest-heavy return to Def Jam Records, the legendary rap rabble-rousers Public Enemy went through a weird public spat that might have been fake. After Public Enemy were announced to perform a Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles, longtime hypeman (and one-time reality TV celebrity) Flavor Flav loudly objected to the gig — which turned out to feature Chuck D’s PE offshoot Public Enemy Radio — on the grounds that he did not want to be affiliated with Sanders’ campaign. This led to Flav being fired from the group, and then the claim that the firing had been a hoax to promote the new album.

Now it looks like Chuck D and Flavor Flav are actually feuding. This morning TMZ published Flav’s claim that Chuck is blocking a reunion tour that would bring the two rappers back together by refusing to sign a partnership agreement. Here’s footage of Flav discussing the matter with TMZ at LAX:

Now, through his publicist, Chuck D has shared the following response:

Come on y’all. This is tired and stupid. Flav and I communicate on our own, so I normally don’t address these things in public, but I’m tired of the circus of airing news that ain’t news and am going to keep it factual here. Flav sues the folks he works with, so in 2017 he decided it was my turn. He lost when the judge dismissed the suit with prejudice in 2020, which means it’s permanent. Over. He can’t file again. He lost. Even after all of this, even after all the years of Flav giving the situation minimum while always asking for the maximum, I still work with him. But it’s time to change. Everybody in the situation can’t be burdened with picking up his slack. The key word in “Brothers Gonna Work It Out” is the word “work.” We’re always gonna be brothers regardless, but Flav’s gotta do the work and there ain’t no getting down without the work. Simple as that.

In the midst of the ordeal with Flav last year, Chuck D said Flav was not fired over politics and had been “on suspension since 2016.” Given the rate at which beloved rap elders have been dying in recent years, it would be cool to see these guys onstage together while they’re both still with us.