Professor Griff (born Richard Griffin) was the minister of information for Public Enemy until June of 1989. He gave a controversial interview to The Washington Post that included comments deemed anti-Semitic by many. In the ensuing furor, Chuck D eventually fired him from Public Enemy and even briefly disbanded the group, only to re-form them. Griff formed his own band, the Asiatic Disciples. The results were mixed, the slant predictably Islamic and Afrocentric on efforts like 1998's Blood of the Profit.