R.E.M. Trashes 'President A**hole' Donald Trump Over 'Everybody Hurts' Meme

The members of former American rock band R.E.M. have made it crystal clear how they feel about President Donald Trump’s sharing of a meme mocking Democrats , which featured one of their most iconic songs.

Trump shared the video, which was set to the group’s 1992 hit “Everybody Hurts,” on Friday. It poked fun at the expressions of Democratic lawmakers during Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this month.

Mike Mills, who was the group’s bassist, responded with a series of blistering tweets.

He dubbed Trump “PresidentAsshole,” called out the pro-Trump Twitter account that created the meme and said “measures have been taken” to stop the circulation of the clip.

The band’s official Twitter account also weighed in, calling Trump “World Leader PRETEND!!!”

CNBC reported early Saturday that Twitter had disabled the video , at the request of lawyers from Universal Music Publishing Group, which owns the publishing rights to the song. The meme’s creator called the move “censorship .”

Multiple musicians and groups have criticized Trump for using their songs without permission at his campaign rallies — including The Rolling Stones , Rihanna , Guns N’ Roses  and Aerosmith.

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe himself, in 2015, also instructed Trump to “not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”