JOE, a political site from the UK, has constructed a brutal parody of R.E.M.’s 1991 hit “Losing My Religion” as a commentary on Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“That’s me and corona,” Trump ‘sings’ on the track. “That’s me in the spotlight, / abusing my position /Trying to blame Chinese flu/ And I don’t care if you have caught it.”
And it gets more savage from there: “I thought that I heard you coughing / I thought that I heard you wheeze / I think I let the old folks die.”
In January, Stephen Colbert asked R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe about Trump’s use of R.E.M. songs at his rallies and campaign events: “Is there really nothing you can do?”
Said Stipe: “It’s a licensing problem and there’s nothing we can do except respectfully request that they not use them.”
Stipe did relish the fact that he got the opportunity to tell Donald Trump “shut up” to his face at one point in his life.
Mike Mills, who played bass on the track, also commented in January on Trump’s use of the music at his rallies, tweeting, “We are aware that the President* @realDonaldTrump continues to use our music at his rallies. We are exploring all legal avenues to prevent this, but if that’s not possible please know that we do not condone the use of our music by this fraud and con man.”
