The Proclaimers have hit song 500 miles pulled from Coronation playlist because of their anti-royalist views
THE Proclaimers have been pulled from an official King’s Coronation playlist because of their anti-royal views.
The hit I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by Scots twins Craig and Charlie Reid, 61, was on a UK Government compilation set up for the May 6 party.
An MP pal of The Proclaimers last night said the famous twins wouldn’t cross the road for the King’s Coronation — never mind walk 500 miles.
Kenny Macaskill’s blast came as it emerged the UK Government had deleted the duo’s anthem from an official playlist set up to mark the monarch’s big day on May 6.
Embarrassed officials at the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport axed I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) after they were alerted to its performers’ strong anti-royalist beliefs.
Edinburgh-born twins Charlie and Craig Reid, 61, have repeatedly declared they are republicans who don’t believe in having an “unelected head of state”.
And Mr Macaskill accused the DCMS of “arrogance” for including their hit in the compilation in the first place.
The Alba MP said: “I think it’s just an assumption that everybody is signed up for the Royals and this jamboree. It’s just arrogance from the establishment.
“I think they’ll find many in Scotland share Charlie and Craig’s republican sympathies. I’d imagine The Proclaimers, like many in this country, wouldn’t cross the road, never mind walk 500 miles, for this junket that will cost a fortune at a time when many folk are living in misery.”
It’s understood the Palace wasn’t involved in compiling the playlist in February.
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A blurb on the DCMS web page says: “Discover other ways to get involved in the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort.”
Last year Charlie Reid spoke out to back a man who protested in Oxford against the new king being proclaimed.
He said: “I think one guy was lifted for shouting, ‘Who elected him?’
“And I thought that guy spoke for me, and he speaks for loads of other people in Scotland and right around the UK.”
Charlie added: “The idea that they agree with an unelected head of state in 2022 is unbelievable.”
In 2007 The Proclaimers told how the album track In Recognition reflected their “overwhelming contempt for people on the left in this country who snipe against the Royal family and then end up taking honours”.
I’m Gonna Be appeared on the Coronation Celebration list alongside classics from The Who, Tom Jones and The Kinks plus Starlight, by Scots singer Emeli Sande, 36.
A spokesman for the DCMS said: “It was created to celebrate British and Commonwealth artists ahead of the Coronation.”
The Proclaimers were approached for comment.
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