The Republican Party has again come under-fire from the music world after its 2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney used Thin Lizzy‘s 1976 rock classic ‘The Boys Are Back In Town‘ at the party’s convention in Florida last week.
The mother of the late Phil Lynott has reacted to the decision by telling Irish magazine Hot Press her son would never have agreed for Romney to use the track due to their different political and social views.
“As far as I am concerned, Mitt Romney’s opposition to gay marriage and to civil unions for gays makes him anti-gay – which is not something that Philip would have supported,” Philomena Lynott remarked. “He had some wonderful gay friends, as indeed I do, and they deserve equal treatment in every respect, whether in Ireland or the United States.”
“Neither would Philip have supported his policy of taxing the poor and offering tax cuts to the rich, which Paul Ryan is advocating. There is certainly no way that I would want the Lynott name to be associated with any of those ideas.”
Last month, Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan was heavily criticised by Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello after disclosing his love for the band. In response, Morello wrote a scathing letter to Rolling Stone, which described Ryan’s political standpoint as ‘antithetical to the message of Rage’.