Ian Brown, frontman of the rock band The Stone Roses, announced on Twitter that his song ‘Little Seed Big Tree’ has been taken down on Spotify. The song features Brown’s controversial stances on coronavirus, the vaccine and the national lockdown, with lines such as “5G radiation, beamed to Earth from space by satellites / A false vaccine, like a bad dream / The general population, hypnotised, right in front of your eyes”. The singer has claimed that his song has been removed by Spotify as an act of “censorship”.

SPOTiFY stream the streams and censor artists like they have with my last song TOOK IT DOWN just put it down the memory hole! FREE EXPRESSiON AS REVOLUTiON

— Ian Brown (@ianbrown) March 12, 2021

A Spotify spokesperson told The Independent the reason behind the removal of ‘Little Seed Big Tree’: “Spotify prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about Covid-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health. When content that violates this standard is identified it is removed from the platform.”

The Stone Roses frontman has always been outspoken about his stances on the Covid-19 pandemic, criticising the vaccination rollouts, the act of mask-wearing and lockdown restrictions such as social-distancing. In January, he tweeted: “What mutates the fastest? The ‘virus’ or the government media propaganda?” His Tweets are often met with angry responses from fans and bystanders alike.

Earlier this month, Ian Brown announced that he would no longer be headlining at Neighbourhood Weekender music festival at Victoria Park from 3rd to 5th September this year as he disagrees with the conditions of the event, which seemingly suggest that attendees must have proof of vaccination (subject to change according to government guidelines). He wrote on Twitter: “My Saturday night headline show at NHBD Weekender Festival will now not happen! I refuse to accept vaccination proof as condition of entry. Refunds are available!”

My Saturday night headline show at NHBD Weekender Festival will now not happen! I refuse to accept vaccination proof as condition of entry.Refunds are available! X

— Ian Brown (@ianbrown) March 3, 2021

Refunds will be available for ticket holders who can no longer attend Neighbourhood Weekender. Tickets can be bought on their website.