R.E.M. orders Fox News to stop playing 'Losing My Religion' during DNC

The American rock band R.E.M. on Thursday demanded that Fox News "cease and desist" using their song "Losing My Religion" during its coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

"R.E.M.'s 'Losing My Religion' was used in the Fox News coverage of the Democratic National Convention last night," a statement on the R.E.M. HQ website said. "R.E.M. today, through its music publisher, Warner-Tamerlane Music, demanded that Fox News cease and desist from continuing its unlicensed and unauthorized use of the song."

"We have little or no respect for their puff adder brand of reportage," lead singer Michael Stipe said. "Our music does not belong there."

And it's not the first time the band's frontman has taken on conservatives.

During a 2003 interview with NBC's Katie Couric about the band's song "Bad Day," Stipe blasted conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, Republican strategist Karl Rove and then-President George W. Bush.

"It's a bad--it's a day for Limbaugh, isn't it?" he asked Couric. "It's a bad day for Schwarzenegger. It's a bad day for Bush. It's a bad day for Rove. It's a good day for me."

During the 2008 Democratic primary, Stipe revealed that he had been an early supporter of then-Sen. Barack Obama.

"I'm buoyed by Barack Obama arriving at a time when people have lost their faith in politics," he reportedly told The Sun. "There's something there that speaks of a level-headedness and competence, so obviously I want him to be the next President."

Over the past week, Fox News has devoted a significant amount of coverage to the Democrats' decision to exclude -- and then re-add -- references to "God" and "Jerusalem" in the Democratic platform.

R.E.M. representatives did not return calls by the time of publication.