BY HOLLY GLEASON

When they go low, we go high. Look for The O’Jays on tomorrow’s edition of Colbert.

It’s been an insane amount of work for the Republican party, co-opting all that music from artists who absolutely, positively want no part of their art, music or legacy associated with a party that thinks walls are good, bathrooms are scary places and family values are what they say, not how they roll. When Queen tells you “absolutely not,” and the party misses the fact lead singer Freddie Mercury died of AIDS-related complications, we know tone deaf isn’t just a clever catchphrase.

Perhaps no one has been more maligned and miscast than the The O’Jays. When Donald Trump & Co. embraced “Love Train” as a theme song—without Eddie Levert and Walter Williams’ consent—the pushback was immediate. In true Cleveland, Ohio homeboy style, Levert went right for it, declaring that Trump “just may be the Antichrist.”

For Williams, it was more a matter of the song’s intention not lining up. Having said in a statement, “’Love Train’ is about bringing people together, not building walls...,” you’d think the Republicans would’ve figured it out. But after attorneys had to send a cease and desist order to Rep. John Mica (R-FL), who thought using “For The Money” without permission—and missing the song’s indictment of greed and its aftermath—there was only one thing left to do.

Levert, Williams and Eric Nolan Grant are taking their music, and they’re using it in a way they see fit: sitting in with Jon Batiste and Stay Human on 8/4’s Colbert. Look for the O’Jays catalogue to fill up the bumpers all night. In the face of all that’s gone on, we’re looking for a pretty passionate “Backstabbers” sent out to their friends in Republican party.