This is a call from Donald Trump to Foo Fighters.
A spokesman for the ex-POTUS and current GOP presidential nominee hit back at the multiplatinum band today after Dave Grohl and company complained about their hit “My Hero” being played at a weekend rally without the band’s consent.
“It’s Times Like These facts matter, don’t be a Pretender,” Trump’s rep Steven Cheung wrote on X, copping the titles of two Foo tracks.
“My Hero” blared on the PA during a rally with new endorsee Robert Kennedy Jr. in the swing state of Arizona on Friday, and the band made its distaste — and lack of approval — known soon afterward. Only trouble is, the Trump camp has licensed use of that song and so many others from music-publishing company BMI.
Cheung included a quote from a UK newspaper backing his point. The Independent had tweeted, or X’d, on Saturday that it “has seen documents appearing to confirm that the campaign had indeed licensed the song from BMI’s Songview service.”
“We have a license to play the song,” Cheung said in a statement.
There is a long history of campaigns — primarily Republican — facing artists’ ire over the use of their music at rallies. At certain times, the campaigns obtained blanket licenses from rights groups like ASCAP, either directly or via the venue where a rally or event takes place. But an artist can exclude certain works from the blanket license. Artists also may object to the use of a work on other grounds, including that it violates right of publicity and trademark laws.
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Still, numerous artists have griped about Trump using their music at his rallies in recent weeks and months — and years. Two weeks ago, Celine Dion’s management and record company objected to the candidate’s use of her Titanic smash “My Heart Will Go On” at a rally. And the family of the late soul legend Isaac Hayes threatened a copyright suit over the use at rallies of the Sam & Dave classic “Hold On, I’m Coming,” which Hayes wrote. And the list goes on — for all three of Trump presidential runs.
In fact, it’s been a running theme, so to speak, of Trump’s campaign since he descended that escalator to announce his White House candidacy in June 2015. Neil Young’s decidedly not-jingoistic “Rockin’ the in Free World” was played as the then-Apprentice host took that stage to reveal his run. The politically hip Canadian rocker decried its use the next day, saying in a statement ““Donald Trump was not authorized to use ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ in his presidential candidacy announcement.”
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Back in 2020, The Rolling Stones threatened to sue Trump for using their timeless track “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at his events. They later were joined by both BMI and ASCAP in decrying use of the band’s music. That led to a throng of musicians teaming with the Artist Rights Alliance penning an open letter that called on major U.S. political parties to “establish clear policies requiring campaigns to seek consent of featured recording artists, songwriters and copyright owners before publicly using their music in a political or campaign setting.”
Signatories of that letter included the Stones, Elton John, Aerosmith, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Green Day, Jason Isbell, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love, Linkin Park, Lykke Li, Train and Lionel Richi, Lorde, Sia and Regina Spektor.
