Chumbawamba asks New Zealand’s populist party to stop using hit song Tubthumping at rallies

British band Chumbawamba has asked New Zealand’s deputy prime minister Winston Peters to stop using their hit song Tubthumping at his rallies because the band members do not share his populist ideas.

Peters, whose New Zealand First party is part of a coalition government, has used the song at public events and its lyrics “I get knocked down, but I get up again” in his speeches.

The band asked its recording company, Sony Music Publishing, to issue the political party a cease and desist notice.

The song was recently played ahead of Peters’s state of the nation speech in which he talked about plans to remove gender and sexuality lessons from the school curriculum and compared co-governing between the Māori and the Crown to race-based theories of Nazi Germany.

Co-governance is a phrase used to describe various arrangements where Māori and the Crown share decision-making power, according to the Human Rights Commission of New Zealand.

Chumbawamba’s lead guitarist Boff Whalley said the band did not give Peters permission to use the song, and that they do not share his ideas on race. He said he wanted Peters to stop using the song “to shore up his misguided political views”.

“Chumbawamba wrote the song ‘Tubthumping’ as a song of hope and positivity, so it seems entirely odd that the ‘I get knocked down …’ refrain is being used by New Zealand’s deputy prime minister Winston Peters as he barks his divisive, small-minded, bigoted policies during his recent speeches,” Whalley said in a statement to the BBC.

“Chumbawamba does not share any of Peters’ ideas on race relations and would like to remind him that the song was written for and about ordinary people and their resilience. We have asked our record company Sony to issue a cease and desist notice," Whalley added.

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In a social media post on X, Peters responded: “The story about the use of the Chumbawamba song has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show how my comments about these sorts of media organisations are correct.”

Peters also said the party has not received a cease and desist letter.

On Wednesday, New Zealand media outlet Stuff reported that APra Amcos – New Zealand’s music licensing body – would forward a cease and desist notice to New Zealand First from Sony Music Publishing.

Chumbawamba has done similar things in the past. In 2011 they asked UK politician Nigel Farage to stop using Tubthumping at a UKIP conference and in 1998 they poured a bucket of ice water over then UK deputy prime minister John Prescott at the Brit awards in support of striking dockers on Merseyside.

New Zealand’s centre-right National Party reached an agreement with ACT New Zealand and New Zealand First to form the government after the 14 October general elections last year.