Normally, when we report on festival news and rumors, we don’t have the festival’s organizer supplying the info firsthand. So, after The Root’s ?uqestlove seemed to all but confirm that Run-DMC would reunite at The Roots Picnic 2010, we sat back and waited for the awesome inevitability. Well, now, despite all the evidence to the contrary, Reverend Run and Darryl McDaniels (DMC) are denying any such reunion.

It all started in March when Roots drummer ?uestlove tweeted about the Picnic getting “a reunion we thought we would never get.” He then followed it up with a lineup announcement video featuring the Roots rhythm man with a fat gold chain and a fedora hat. But Revered Run says the fact of that matter is that the seminal rap group isn’t the same without Jam-Master Jay, who was shot and killed in 2002.

“That’s not gonna happen,” Run said of a possible Run-DMC reunion. “For me, personally, I’ll put it like this… As of now, a reunion is possible, but it’s really got to make bigger sense, because a lot of people say Run-DMC was much more than just a rap group to them. People hit me with all the groups that did get back together after death, but I just feel I can’t replace my drummer. Do you really want to see me and Run running around without Jay back there? With some other DJ? It’ll be disrespectful.”

But don’t rule out the two surviving members collaborating at some point in the future, with McDaniels adding, “We can probably get back together, but it’s got to be in a different form. So it’s not going to happen yet.”

The Third Annual Roots Picnic goes down on June 5th and also features Clipse and Vampire Weekend.