Odds & Ends: DMX, Black Flag, Skinny Puppy

Yep, it’s DMX vs. the most despised former neighborhood watchman the world has ever known. Your celebrity news probably won’t get much more ridiculous than this for the rest of the week.

Celebrity Boxing owner Damon Feldman announced last week that he was looking for someone to fight George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the February 2012 murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. After receiving more than 15,000 requests Feldman picked DMX for the three-round, pay-per-view fight, according to CNN.

The rapper reportedly told TMZ that he was fighting Zimmerman in honor of “every black person who has been done wrong in the system.” DMX added, “I am breaking every rule in boxing to make sure I f**k him right up.”

A representative for the rapper told the gossip site that contract negotiations are ongoing. Zimmerman plans to donate his pay to charity.

CNN notes that Rev. AL Sharpton has spoken out against the match and that a Change.org petition is collecting signatures in hopes of canceling it. The petition states, “This is a blatant show of disrespect and nothing positive or righteous would come from such a stunt. Please sign this petition to stop George Zimmerman and stop this madness.”

Today would have been Treyvon Martin’s 19th birthday.

A date and location for the Celebrity Boxing fight will reportedly be announced next week.   

News has been surfacing in the press that bassist Dave Klein has parted ways with Black Flag.  

Klein spilled the beans with a Jan. 30 Facebook post following the announcement that Mike Vallely is taking over as frontman for Black Flag.

The bassist linked to a December story that reported he had rejoined the act They Stay Dead.

“I guess I should OFFICIALLY (puns!) say that I’m no longer playing with BF. I suppose the following post from last month wasn’t exactly clear. Now go listen to They Stay Dead and Screeching Weasel. See ya soon at a show near you!”

As for Vallely’s big news, Rolling Stone notes that he’s a pro skaterboarder who managed Black Flag in 2013 and has also shared vocal duties with founding BF member/guitarist Greg Ginn in Good For You.  

Vallely is filling the shoes of Ron Reyes who announced in November that his second stint with the band ended when he was fired in the middle of a concert.  

Skinny Puppy wants the U.S. Department of Defense to pay up $666,000 in compensation for using the band’s music to interrogate detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

“We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody,” keyboardist Cevin Key told CTV News.

Key told CTV News the industrial rock band was “offended” to learn its music was being used “to inflict damage” at the detention center in Cuba. A former Guantanamo Bay guard and fan of the band tipped the band off.

“I wouldn’t want to be subjected to any overly loud music for six to 12 hours at a time without a break,” Key added.