British band force Australian mining magnate to take down a YouTube video using their hit song Tubthumping

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

British band Chumbawamba have forced Clive Palmer to take down a YouTube video that used their hit song Tubthumping, calling the political hopeful a “Donald Trump-lite egomaniac”.

The controversial mining magnate, who recently announced a political comeback, posted a video to his personal Twitter page and to YouTube in June that showed a group of men singing the famous lines from the 1997 anthem: “I get knocked down, but I get up again.”

But earlier this month, Chumbawamba wrote to Palmer demanding he take the video down.

Clive Palmer relaunches PUP as United Australia party and announces political return Read more

They said they had banned Palmer from ever using the song due to his “redundant views on climate change, immigration and abortion”.

In a scathing statement, the famously left-leaning anarchist band labelled him “a ridiculous narcissist”.

“Tubthumping is a song written to champion the resilience of working people, not to further a billionaire’s political ambitions.”

In 2011, the band also condemned Ukip for using Tubthumping at a party conference.

At the time of reporting, Palmer’s YouTube video had been removed, but a Twitter video of the song remained up.

Clive Palmer (@CliveFPalmer) I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never going to keep me down.#MakeTownsvilleGreat #3000jobs #PutPoliticsAside pic.twitter.com/gurZ5JpgwM

The 10-second clip shows men in workgear singing while a person dressed as an unidentifiable metal rectangle with shorts walks in front of them.

Chumbawamba wrote that the rendition was “badly sung” with a “bunch of embarrassed ‘workers’ who clearly don’t know the words”.

The band also allege that Palmer plagiarised the song’s lyrics in a series of billboards in Queensland.

The billboards read: “When we get knocked down, we get up again. Brisbane’s never gonna keep Townsville down. Go Townsville – go Clive”.

Chumbawamba said that they would take legal action against Palmer if he did not take the billboards down.

A spokesman for the United Australia Party declined to comment.

“This is issue is being dealt with by the lawyers, therefore I don’t have any further information for you at this stage,” he said.

In 2013, Palmer’s eponymous Palmer United Party won four seats in Parliament: three in the Senate and one, for Palmer himself, in the lower house electorate of Fairfax.

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But senators Jacquie Lambie and Glenn Lazarus left the party and Palmer did not stand at the next election.

Since his relaunch, Palmer has moved towards the fringe political right, and in June recruited former One Nation senator Brian Burston.

The mining magnate is also embroiled in a legal battle with the liquidators of his Queensland Nickel company, which collapsed in 2016 with the loss of around 550 jobs.

In May, supreme court justice John Bond ordered a freeze on $205m of Palmer’s personal assets until the court case was over – which his legal team appealed.

Palmer has announced he would reopen the refinery, saying he had the capital to do it and that he had previously offered to settle the company’s debts.