Punk Rocker Jello Biafra’s New Tune? Defeat MAGA Nazis

Punk pioneer Jello Biafra could have joined the Culture War battles at any point over the last four-plus.

Free speech has been under serial attack for at least that long. Instead, the ex-Dead Kennedys frontman let others fight in the First Amendment trenches.

The West needed as many pop culture warriors as possible while free speech suffered sizable body blows.

Consider:

• The Twitter Files revealed rampant attempts to censor right-leaning voices
• Social media giants kicked a president off its platforms, hid the Hunter Biden laptop story and punished those who questioned pandemic protocols (and were mostly proven right)
• Aging rockers like Neil Young pressured Spotify to fire Joe Rogan for sharing alternative views on the pandemic (that were mostly proven right)
• Cancel Culture ran roughshod over comedy and the greater Hollywood community
• The Biden administration sought to curtail speech on Big Tech platforms like Facebook
• Terms like “misinformation” and “disinformation” targeted speech in the public sphere
• “Sensitivity readers” erased passages written by Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl and Agatha Christie

That’s a partial list.

Where was Biafra, who famously battled for his free speech rights in the 1980s? If he’s been vocal on the matter it hasn’t reached the press.

The punk rocker seemed perfectly suited to address the subject.

His group’s 1985 album “Frankenchrist” featured a provocative image by H.R. Giger that was deemed obscene in some quarters. The matter ended up in the courts.

The artwork in question was part of the album’s narrative attacking society’s mechanization, his lawyers argued.  Others insisted its provocative nature wasn’t appropriate for young consumers.

Biafra emerged with a victory of sorts, but the fallout proved damaging to his professional career. That free speech fight anchors a new L.A.-based play called “Porn Rock: The Obscenity Trial of Jello Biafra.”

Now, he’s lashing out at President Donald Trump like fellow punksters Green Day. Biafra changed the lyrics to a Dead Kennedys’ song to smite the 47th president.

He shared the updated track at a Denver concert at the Marquis Theater – from “Nazi Punks F*** Off” to “Nazi Trumps F*** Off.” 

“For the first time ever, we are staring at a real, live fascist dictatorship with red, white, and blue brownshirts all over this country.”

Biafra can decry President Trump’s executive orders all he wishes. Trump’s recent battles with the Associated Press over the Gulf of America are similarly worth a fair debate.

The rocker’s veritable silence over recent free speech infringements stains his commentary. And his concert-based tweak feels like partisan politics.

Period.

Then again, maybe he no longer resembles the free speech warrior of yore.

This year-old video finds him pining for The Fairness Doctrine. Its removal led to an explosion of new voices in media, including Fox News.

Here’s how Brittanica described the Doctrine’s critics:

The fairness doctrine was never without its opponents, however, many of whom perceived the equal airtime requirement as an infringement of the right to freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution….In 1985, however, the FCC decided that the doctrine had a “chilling effect” upon freedom of speech.

Editor’s Note: It’s a brutal time to be an independent journalist, but it’s never been more necessary given the sorry state of the corporate press. If you’re enjoying Hollywood in Toto, I hope you’ll consider leaving a coin (or two) in our Tip Jar.