The Beastie Boys, which consisted of members, Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock, all originally wanted the title of their debut album to be called “Don’t Be a Faggot” but Columbia Records refused to release the album under this title, with obvious reasons. With pressure from the label to change the name, Russell Simmons, the Beastie Boys’ manager and head of Def Jam Records at the time and The Beastie Boys agreed on Licence To Ill, which was a pun on the James Bond film, License To Kill.
In 1999, Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz issued a public apology for the album’s earlier title. “I would like to… formally apologize to the entire gay and lesbian community for the shitty and ignorant things we said on our first record, 1986’s Licensed to Ill. There are no excuses. But time has healed our stupidity… We hope that you’ll accept this long overdue apology.”
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