On February 26 2020, Public Enemy’s official Facebook page announced a Bernie Sanders rally on March 1 2020 in Los Angeles — complete with a poster of Sanders about to drop a microphone:
The text in the post read:
The time is now! FIGHT THE POWER! PullUp and see PublicEnemy & U.S. Senator Bernie March 1st at the LA Convention Center!
On Bernie Sanders’ website, an “events” page titled “Rally in Los Angeles with performance by Public Enemy Radio” read:
Join Bernie Sanders, Sarah Silverman, and Dick Van Dyke, with a special performance by Public Enemy Radio. Doors open at 3:00 p.m. and the event starts at 5:00 p.m.
And if you vote-by-mail, be sure to bring your ballot with you so we can cast our votes for Bernie together before the rally kicks off.
Billboard reported the event and added that the March 1 2020 rally came just two days before Super Tuesday on March 3 2020:
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders will be hosting a rally in Los Angeles on Sunday (Mar. 1), and Public Enemy is set to perform. Comedian Sarah Silverman and beloved actor Dick Van Dyke will also take part in the event.
The rally comes just two days before Super Tuesday (March 3), during which the greatest number of U.S. states (California included) will hold primary elections and caucuses. Sanders has already won the New Hampshire and Nevada primaries.
XXL Magazine included some information about Public Enemy’s endorsements or lack thereof in recent years, adding that the group has long embraced political themes in their songs:
As for Sanders’ upcoming rally in Los Angeles, Public Enemy’s performance shouldn’t be a surprise as the group has often addressed African-American [political issues] in their music.
On Twitter, when 2008 Green Party vice-presidential candidate Rosa A. Clemente acknowledged that Chuck D rarely endorses a presidential candidate, the P.E. frontman replied, “I believe in reparations and a lotta issues none of these folks see-as you know Rosa. But lemme say this to those reading this..having been to 115 countries this planet is on a spin cycle. Rinsed. These political hogwashes are no longer a USA discussion-it’s a 2020 Earthizen one.”
However, some people are not happy with P.E. supporting Sanders. One fan tweeted his opposition to Sanders because the senator voted for the 1994 Crime Bill. Chuck D responded to the critic.
“Jazzz I don’t expect anything,” he tweeted. “However I do know that this administration now is fit to kill something. Even if you clear to see things …..your social surroundings will have civil cataracts.”
In the referenced tweets, Chuck D addressed one user’s political apathy, and another’s claim that he did not often endorse candidates:
Per DJ Magazine it was likely the set would be livestreamed, but no information about when or where fans could watch was made available as of February 27 2020.