Neil Young is done with the “fascist Trump regime” — and all the companies he claims are financially backing it.
On Thursday (Jan. 29), the veteran Grammy-winning rocker posted a fiery essay to his Neil Young Archives website, in which he lambasted several companies for their financial support of President Trump and his administration, namely Verizon, T-Mobile and Apple.
“One idea I have to keep [my flip phone] is just to change services and drop Verizon service like a cold fish. It’s the money I give Verizon for my service that’s doing the damage! Not my old phone I bought years ago,” he began his post, lamenting at his phone company’s Trump ties. “What can I do? I’m checking with our office to see if I can get a T-Mobile flip phone. T-Mobile is not a supporter of the Trump fascist regime. But wait….T-Mobile donated to Trump’s ballroom, which has gone from $200 million to $400 million, suddenly. Where is that money going? There is no accounting. So T-Mobile is apparently out.”
The befuddling ballroom renovations are one thing, but the recent unrest in Minnesota is something entirely different. Young is a longtime political activist — two weeks ago, he penned a post reiterating his distaste for ICE and Trump, and last October, he announced he would be pulling his music from Amazon, citing Bezos’ Trump ties — but the recent ICE killings in Minneapolis have pushed him into a higher gear. This month, ICE agents fatally shot two American citizens in Minneapolis: Renée Good (Jan. 7) and Alex Pretti (Jan. 24).
“One by one, I am cancelling all contact with each of them,” Young proclaimed. “This is not easy, but the alternative – me giving money I got from you, for my music, to the Regime that backed the illegal killings of two Americans. That can’t happen… I’m trying to not support the companies that support the regime with huge donations, while people are being shot on the streets of America, not just Minnesota, AMERICA!”
The Billboard Hot 100-topping singer’s jabs didn’t stop there, as he quickly shifted his attention to Apple CEO Tim Cook, whom he claims “was at the Melania premiere at the White House just the other night, kissing ass.” He even threatened to sue Apple if his computer “doesn’t work without the new costly upgrade.”
“I’m stopping right now to call my business manager and make sure I do not upgrade anything from Apple… Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, [is] falling over backwards to support the regime!” Young alleged. “No one stands on their own. Supporting Apple is supporting Trump? How many of these big companies that we all need are contributing to the regime one way or another? Think of the money you spend and where it goes.”
As he continues to “re-assess everything [he is] doing,” Young will also seemingly wrestle with the future of his relationship with Warner, the “great record company” that currently distributes his music.
“I’ll keep you updated, folks,” he signed off.
At press time, representatives for T-Mobile, Apple, Verizon and Warner Music Group have not responded to Billboard’s requests for comment.
