Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed.

"Harlem Shake" record label trying to take down Ajit Pai's stupid anti-net neutrality video

A few days ago—in what was, somehow, only the third or fourth-most obnoxious thing he’s done this week—FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai released a video onto the internet, mocking critics of his ongoing plan to destroy net neutrality regulations by purporting to show all the things people will still be able to do once they’re gone. (Which misses the whole point of people’s arguments against his plan, but we’ve vented enough spleen about that already.) Pai—working with conservative site The Daily Caller—capped his video off with the fucking Harlem Shake of all things, a meme so old that it doesn’t even clear the bar of notability for a joke about running memes into the ground.

Meanwhile, though, that particular musical cue has attracted the ire of the people who own and created it, with “Harlem Shake” author Baauer and record label Mad Decent—which is owned by producer Diplo—both expressing their anger at its use. Mad Decent went so far as to issue an official statement about the video, stating that it intends to do everything in its power to take the mocking, arrogant missive down.

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Unfortunately—as noted by Engadget—Pai’s video probably falls under the terms of fair use, so it’s unlikely the takedown will actually go through.