Rock band's frontman 'disgusted' after song used in Tommy Robinson protest

Rock band’s frontman Tim Booth, lead singer of the band James, has revealed he is ‘disgusted’ that his song was used in the Tommy Robinson protest rally, which took place in London on Saturday, 13 September.

The march was organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, also known as Stephen Lennon, the Chief Executive of the UK’s largest anti-racism and anti-extremism movement.

More than 100,000 people joined the central London march, and a song by James was played. The song Sit Down was played in the background of a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, which panned around the crowd at the protest.

After witnessing the video, Tim took to social media to say he was ‘disgusted’ and that ‘no permission was granted’ to use the song under the circumstances. He said: “Disgusted to see the cynical use of ‘Sit Down’ by @TRobinsonNewEra. No permission was granted, and we are looking into our options. The song and most of our topical lyrics, make it very clear where we stand, and it’s the antithesis of this organization.”

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Tim has been known to share his opinions online and previously called out fellow musician Morrissey in 2018 and labelled him a ‘d**k’. The two were previously friends; however, that seemed to change after the former Smiths frontman reportedly expressed sympathy for Tommy Robinson,

Tim said: "I knew Morrissey as a friend when he was sweet, very shy, very frightened. Wanting success, wanting what happened with The Smiths and also terrified of it simultaneously. I saw about their seventh gig in Manchester and they were fully formed. They were ready, they were locked and loaded. And we weren’t.", The Metro reported.

“They were so kind to us. Morrissey called us the best band in the world, they took us on tour, they tried to take us to America but we actually turned them down. And they were so sweet, all of them, for years. But I know he’s become a bit of a d**k. As I say, he did some very kind things for us so therefore it’s hard for me to say he’s a d**k but he’s being a d**k at the moment.”

The Tommy Robinson protest also included a surprise appearance from Elon Musk via videolink, and shared a string of harmful claims about the UK.

He said: "I think there's something beautiful about being British and what I see happening here is a destruction of Britain, initially a slow erosion but rapidly increasing erosion of Britain with massive uncontrolled migration. A failure by the government to protect innocent people, including children who are getting gang-raped.

"It's unreal the government has failed in its duty to protect its citizens, which is a fundamental duty of government."

Elsewhere, Weyman Bennett, co-convenor of Stand Up to Racism, said: “These far right thugs planned this to be a violent riot. They want a repeat of last summer’s violence - and more. Let’s stop pretending these are 'concerned ordinary working class people' - they are far right thugs who went to a demonstration organised by fascist Tommy Robinson.

"We are proud we organised a vibrant demonstration against them, but we need more opposition to the far right threat.”

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