The big chest-mounted timepiece is pointing to sue o’clock, apparently, because Flavor Flav is taking his former comrades in Public Enemy to court. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the world-famous reality star, rapper, and hype man—born William Jonathan Drayton Jr.—is suing the group over what he says were unauthorized usages of his image and voice, and unpaid royalties from his songwriting contributions and merchandising deals with the group.
“On or about June 29, 2017,” the court documents read, “Drayton was shocked to see that a new Public Enemy album”—the recent Nothing Is Quick In The Desert—“was being released, and his image was being used in multiple media outlets to promote the album. He had never heard of the album, nor heard any of the final mixes.” Flav admits that he did go into the studio recently to record some new music for the group, but says he never gave the band authorization to use his tracks, which he called, “not up to his standards of quality.”
Flav also contends that various payments he says he’s owed for his contributions to the group have dried up in recent years, and that Chuck D and various members of the band’s management team have refused to give him an accounting of why. Flav is suing D for damages, with the amount to be determined at trial.