Federal Agents Using ‘The Walking Dead’ Torture Song Against ICE Protesters

Protesters camped outside the Portland headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs were blasted [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Protesters camped outside the Portland headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs were blasted with The Collapsable Hearts Club's 'Easy Street' — the same song Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors used to torture Daryl (Norman Reedus) and other Sanctuary prisoners in The Walking Dead, the Willamette Week reports.

The obnoxiously peppy song was played on a loop in season 7 episode 'The Cell.'

"ICE has been playing children's music for 5 hours now," wrote the @OccupyICEPDX Twitter account when sharing a snippet of video captured July 15.

"It seems to play for a couple minutes and is a continuous loop," a spokesperson for the anti-ICE organization told Willamette Week. "It's been playing for 10+ hours now." A camp visitor further says on the night of July 14, people within the ICE building shined generator-powered floodlights on the Occupy camp.

Protesters previously told the site federal agents blasted Metallica's 'Threatening Dad Rock' and 'Enter Sandman' overnight to disrupt protesters' rest preceding arrests late June. Federal Protective Service spokesman Robert Sperling told WW the Department of Homeland Security "wouldn't do something like" blasting music at protesters as a disruptive tactic.

'Easy Street' was used to keep an imprisoned Daryl awake. When he finally slept, he was abruptly awakened by the song and its relentless thumping drum and clapping beats.

ICE might have employed the 10-hour loop of the song made available to YouTube in November 2016 as part of the "#DarylDixonChallenge."

'Easy Street' was selected because then-showrunner Scott Gimple wanted "to play the juxtaposition of a very happy, feel good, child-like song over and over in a torture-like manor," The Walking Dead music supervisor Gabe Hilfer revealed.

"It can get tricky finding a song which fits the desired aesthetic, while making sure the songwriter and performer are okay with the content of the scene. After searching long and hard, we came across 'Easy Street' and it fit the bill perfectly. Once Scott heard it, he agreed and the rest is history!"

"I didn't really understand why a show like The Walking Dead would want to use such an upbeat over-the-top, in your face 'happy' song but now I understand — to torture someone, of course," 'Easy Street' writer Jim Bianco told Independent UK.

"I think the show used it brilliantly; framing such an upbeat song as a torture advice is a work of genius by the music supervisor."

Bianco later advertised the song on Twitter as "the song you torture people with."

The Walking Dead returns for season 9 this October on AMC.

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