I’m NOT Gonna Be (on the coronation playlist)… Proclaimers’ song has been removed from the event’s official compilation following criticism of the band’s anti-royal views
- The Proclaimers have been removed from the royal coronation playlist
- The duo held anti-royal views as well as criticism of the honors system
The Proclaimers’ hit “(I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles” has been removed from the coronation playlist due to controversy over the band’s Republican sentiments.
Craig and Charlie Reid’s 1988 hit was one of 28 songs on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Coronation Celebration public playlist on Spotify.
It is understood that the number was removed by the government after complaints were filed.
Last year, frontman Charlie Reid sympathized with an anti-monarchist protester who was arrested in Oxford after shouting “Who elected him?” at the proclamation ceremony for the new monarch.
The protester in question, Symon Hill, was charged under the Public Order Act, but the prosecution later dropped the case.
The 1988 hit by The Proclaimers (pictured) was one of 28 songs on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s public Coronation Celebration playlist
The Scottish duo have previously shared anti-royal stances, with alleged complaints about their inclusion on the playlist ahead of the King and Queen’s coronation
In conversation with the National, Reid said, “I thought that man spoke for me, and he speaks for a lot of other people. Not just in Scotland, but all over the UK.
“The way they acted, you would think the story was that it’s only about the grief of people and people who respect her, but the real story is that in 2022 an unelected head of state died.”
The Proclaimers have courted republicanism in their music before. The pair said their 2007 song In Recognition was about “people on the left in this country sneaking up on the royal family and then taking credit.”
Other hits on the hour and 56 minute playlist include Come Together by the Beatles, Daddy Cool by Boney M, Treat People With Kindness by Harry Styles, Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush, Say You’ll by the Spice Girls Be There and the aptly titled King of Years And Years.
A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: ‘The playlist has been created to celebrate British and Commonwealth artists in the run-up to the upcoming coronation.’