James singer disgusted as Robinson uses Sit Down to fuel hate

As reported by the Canary, Britain’s far-right gathered in London on Saturday 13 September for their Unite the Kingdom march:

9 arrests for violent fascists attacking police – 900 for grannies and disabled people holding placards?

Can you say two-tier policing, Home Secretary? As it seems cops response to the Unite The Kingdom march was odd… says @skwawkbox #StandUpToRacism https://t.co/HITg2groPv

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) September 13, 2025

As part of the marketing push, Tommy Robinson used Sit Down by 90s indie legends James. In response, the band’s singer has come out to make it clear where he stands:

Disgusted to see the cynical use of ‘Sit Down’ by @TRobinsonNewEra.
No permission was granted, and we are looking into our options.
The song and most of our topical lyrics, make it very clear where we stand, and it’s the antithesis of this organization

— Tim Booth (@RealTimBooth) September 13, 2025

Unite the Kingdom: sit down

We described James as ’90s legends’, but their career began in the 80s and continues today. James’ biggest hits did land in the 90s, of course, including She’s a Star, Laid, and Sit Down. James aren’t the only 90s band to find their songs being lifted by the far right either:

Co-opting songs of unity for divisive movement.

— Tim Booth (@RealTimBooth) September 13, 2025

Many of those responding were familiar with the band’s lyrics:

EVERYBODY belongs here .. NBL ♥️🌼 pic.twitter.com/RUjpQzBc04

— Helen Bladette (@HelenBladette) September 13, 2025

Hopefully someone will hear the song, actually listen, dig deeper, and understand what the song and band stands for.

— Landon Hill (@ImaBigCat) September 13, 2025

Turns out some fans don’t listen to the lyrics, though:

You need to sit down Tim, and wind your neck in. I have seen James on a number of occasions, but I doubt if I will do so again. If you don’t need people like me, let’s see you attracting new audience as you approached the winter of your career.

— Rush (@exRAF_Al) September 13, 2025

The brain geniuses among you will notice this is an example of a right-winger engaging in cancel culture – that thing they pretend to be ideologically opposed to. It’s also an example of them cracking down on what they think free speech is, which is a person’s right to express any opinion they like online without being criticised.

This guy, meanwhile, didn’t seem to understand how copyright works:

Releasing art to the public voids thr artist’s ownership.

— gary 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇯🇵🚀 (@Eldenofthering) September 13, 2025

Black mirror

Booth also received a comment from the infamous Ian Miles Cheong:

Wind your neck in, as the English say.

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 14, 2025

As reported by Times of India, Cheong is a Malaysian man who began as a left-leaning games journalist only to pivot to being a right-wing shit poster. Despite living in Malaysia, he only talks about Western politics, and what he talks about is frequently called into question. A key recent example of this was when he claimed the Netflix show Adolescence was based on the murder of three young girls in Southport.

The reason he’s dipping into UK politics, by the way, is because Elon Musk supports the British far right:

🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Unite the Kingdom 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 https://t.co/jRDmwLJIi0

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 13, 2025

Cheong best typifies what X/Twitter has become under Musk, and that’s a right-wing echo chamber in which the worst opportunists fight to make the same points so they can earn money from the site’s creator programme. The following tweet is a key example of that:

Elon Musk and Ian Miles Cheong are both terrified of GTA 5 pic.twitter.com/JjFJtyONXq

— Right Wing Cope (@RightWingCope) December 5, 2023

The reason why it’s a key example is because Cheong wrote many articles on GTA 5 in his time as a games journalist. The man will literally say anything to suck up to Musk and earn that mildly sweet X/Twitter moolah.

Here’s another user who came after Booth (we don’t fully follow his point, but looking at his profile, he’s a right winger):

Yea because your lyrics don’t apply to regular British people who feel scared by what’s happening all around them. Sit down next to me, but not you.

— Daniel Kempe (@danielkempe) September 14, 2025

Here’s the same guy celebrating a ‘tip’ he got from Musk:

Thanks Elon for the tip 🤝 pic.twitter.com/FAMu2AqRW7

— Daniel Kempe (@danielkempe) September 13, 2025

For more on how Musk’s X/Twitter is warping the reality of British right wingers, you should watch the latest video from Tom Nicholas (Elon Musk is Rotting Conservative’s Brains…):

Unite against this

The Canary was on the ground on Saturday covering both the Unite the Kingdom protest and the counter marches:

A round up of today’s #StandUpToRacism march against fascism.

And from somebody who was there, @NicolaCJeffery says it was very obvious what the far right were doing when they suddenly got to Trafalgar Square – yet it wasn’t to the police…? pic.twitter.com/f3sMjmP1hY

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) September 13, 2025

It’s important that we all continue to stand up to these people.

As much as they talk about British independence, it’s clear they actually want Britain to be an impoverished American colony. I don’t know about you, but I think we can do a bit better than whatever the hell Musk and Trump have turned America into.

Featured image via BBC / X/Twitter