'You sad, attention grabbing, power-hungry little man': Michael Stipe gets into four-letter war of words with Trump after tycoon uses R.E.M song at Iran rally

American rock band R.E.M has slammed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump

 for using one of their songs during his entrance at a Washington rally.

The controversial candidate entered the Stop the Iran Deal Rally on Wednesday to the tune of 'It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)', but the band members could not have been less 'fine' about it.

While the official statement about the use of the 1987 hit was more toned down, lead singer Michael Stipe unleashed his wrath via Twitter.

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'Go f*** yourselves: Lead singer Michael Stipe, who is furious about Donald Trump's decision to use one of the band's most loved its as his entrance music for a Washington rally on Wednesday

'Go f*** yourselves, the lot of you – you sad, attention grabbing, power-hungry little men,' he said, via the Twitter account of bassist Mike Mills.

'Do not use our music of my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.' 

Mills, 56, had previously tweeted: 'Personally, I think the Orange Clown will do anything for attention. I hate giving it to him.'

In an attempt to redirect attention away from Trump and on to 'things of greater importance', the band released its official statement on Facebook.

'While we do not authorize or condone the use of our music at this political event, and do ask that these candidates cease and desist from doing do, let us remember that there are things of greater importance at stake here,' it read. 

Donald Trump enters Stop Iran Deal rally to REM song

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'The media and the American voter should focus on the bigger picture, and not allow grandstanding politicians to distract us from the pressing issues of the day and of the current Presidential campaign.'

Stipe, 55, had a similar reaction when 'Losing my religion' was used by Fox News during coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

'We have little or no respect for their puff adder brand of reportage,' said Stipe at the time. 

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'Power-hungry': Donald Trump speaking at the End the Iran Deal rally in Washington on Wednesday, where he incurred the wrath of R.E.M by using one of their hits as his entrance music

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The controversial Republican candidate appeared alongside Senator Ted Cruz at the rally, campaigning against the deal which Trump described as 'incompetently negotiated'

'Our music does not belong there.' 

Stipe has made little secret of his lack of support for any Republicans. He claimed to Rolling Stone that he did not take an HIV test in the 1980s 'during the Reagan-Bush administration', 'for fear of quarantine, the threat of internment camps and having my basic civil rights stripped away'.

And in 2008 he wore a t-shirt endorsing Barack Obama while the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton was under way, it was reported by website Gigwise. 

Both Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz criticized the Iran nuclear deal at the rally, which Cruz referred to as the most important issue in the 2016 presidential election.

'This Iranian nuclear deal is catastrophic,' he said.

'It is the single greatest national security threat facing America.'

Trump added: 'I've been doing deals for a long time. Never ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran, and I mean never.'