Flavor Flav Defends National Anthem Performance, Says He Was Honoring Family in Military

Flavor Flav surprised fans on Sunday (Oct. 29), when the Public Enemy member took the court to perform the National Anthem at the Fiserv Forum before the Milwaukee Bucks took on the Atlanta Hawks.

Following the performance, users on X (formerly known as Twitter) questioned Flav’s decision to sing the National Anthem, as he and bandmate Chuck D’s music is heavy on radical political activism — even down to their Public Enemy group name. In response, the rapper shared a statement on Monday (Oct. 30), writing, “It may seem odd for Flavor Flav, a member of Public Enemy to do the National Anthem. But I had family that served in the United States military and I wanted to honor them.”

He continued, “I had family that fought in World War 2. My dad was in the army. They fought for the land that we live on, and some of them didn’t make it back. So when I was singing it, I was thinking about them and the advancements we have made in our community that I can perform the anthem.”

Flav performed the National Anthem while wearing a green No. 59 jersey (in honor of the year he was born), sideways white baseball hat, white shades and, of course, his signature big clock. “The anthem was a long time bucket list item,,, that was fun!,” Flav wrote on X after his big moment. “I can’t live my life worried about what people might say about me. I won’t let that stop me from trying new things and doing things I wanna do. Some people might not like that. But a sure failure is if you stop trying.”

Revisit his performance below.