The Kinks’ Ray Davies asked “who the fuck is Moby?” after the electronic music star described their song ‘Lola’ as “gross and transphobic”.
The beef between the two artists kicked off last week, when the DJ and musician was interviewed by The Guardian and asked to name a song he can no longer listen to.
He went on to name the 1970 hit song from The Kinks, saying that he heard it recently on a Spotify playlist and “thought the lyrics were gross and transphobic”.
The track features lyrics about a man meeting a trans woman at a Soho bar. Kinks singer Ray Davies, who wrote the song, has explained that it was inspired by various interactions with drag queens, and the time that their manager once spent a night dancing with a transgender woman.
“I like their early music, but I was really taken aback at how unevolved the lyrics are,” Moby continued, prompting guitarist Dave Davies – also the brother of Ray – to hit back and tell him to “be careful what he says”.
to @thelittleidiot Moby’s criticism of our song LOLA these are the words sent to me and Ray from our dear friend trans icon @jaynecounty27 #JayneCounty. I am highly insulted that MOBY would accuse my brother of being ‘unevolved’ or transphobic in any way. https://t.co/hBFmLPdMKH pic.twitter.com/qYcxoMc03d
— Dave Davies (@davedavieskinks) March 22, 2026
“I am highly insulted that Moby would accuse my brother of being ‘unevolved’ or transphobic in any way,” he wrote on X/Twitter, with the post also being accompanied by letter from transgender punk singer Jayne County, which praised ‘Lola’ as “a song that breaks down barriers and brings a used to be, hush, hush subject to the forefront.”
“Why is Moby being so rude about this simple song?,” Moby continued. “We’re not transphobic. Why does he have to have a go at us?”
Now, in an interview with The Telegraph, Dave has opened up about the critical comments from the DJ again, and asked the interviewer “who is Moby?’.
He then went on to say that his brother Ray had the same question in mind, and asked him “who the fuck is Moby?” when they spoke on the phone.
“He wasn’t happy at all,” Dave said, speaking about his brother, and also adding that the comments stung as The Kinks were friendly with members of the transgender community.
“It was fun and quite beautiful. It was about real people and real people’s antics. There is nothing nasty about it. And we had a lot of people like that backstage, which is what happens when you are called the Kinks. What we learned growing up in that band is that everyone is different: No one is one thing,” he told the outlet.
“People were quite shocked by it [at the time]… but we loved it, and the world seemed to love it too. No one mentioned the word transphobia then. I don’t think the word existed.”
He also added that Moby’s comments have made him “worried that it could turn people against us because it can feel like people are becoming weirder by the day”, and also warned that it “can be dangerous to smear people”.
Concluding, he added that while he thinks Moby’s comments are “a clumsy mistake”, he thinks that we “should be grateful that we live in a world where people are free to make music and say what they want to say”.
At the time of writing, Moby had not responded to the reactions of either Ray or Dave Davies.
The electronic music star is set to play just one London gig this summer, as well as a huge headline show at Brighton Beach. He also announced his 23rd studio album, ‘Future Quiet’ at the start of the year.
