The family of the deceased Isaac Hayes is the latest group to demand Donald Trump and the Trump campaign stop using their music. An August 11 letter from Hayes estate lawyer James Walker gave Trump and his campaign less than a week to cease and desist, as the legal lingo goes, and to pay $3 million for past use.
More via The Guardian:
Walker alleges that the song has been used so frequently that the $3m figure is “heavily discounted”. The letter also states that if a resolution is not made and a lawsuit is then issued, the Hayes family will demand damages of $150,000 per use of the song.
On Saturday, [Isaac] Hayes III wrote that Trump – who has previously been filmed dancing to Hold On, I’m Comin’ – used the song in a Montana rally despite being asked not to. “We will now deal with this very swiftly … Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of women and racist rhetoric.”
In 2022, the Hayes family criticised Trump for using the song at a National Rifle Association convention, less than a week after the Uvalde school shooting, where 19 students died. “Our condolences go out to the victims and families of Uvalde and mass shooting victims everywhere,” they wrote.
The Hayes family joins a long line of musicians demanding that Trump stop using their music. So many have objected to the felon’s unauthorized appropriations that there’s a Wikipedia page listing them, The Guardian notes. My fave entry has got to be George Harrison’s estate objecting to the use of “Here Comes the Sun” but offering to consider the use of “Beware of Darkness.”
Other objectors include Celine Dion (for using a song from Titanic, LOL), Prince’s estate, The Smiths, Tom Petty’s family, Linkin Park, Credence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young, Pharrell Williams, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, Panic! At The Disco, Rihanna, Guns N’ Roses, Elton John, R.E.M. and the family of Luciano Pavarotti.
As far as I can tell, none of the others have demanded money from Trump.
The Hayes family told Trump to release a widely distributed statement on social media platforms saying that the family and estate have not authorized, endorsed or permitted the use of any Hayes music, and never will, and to pay the $3 million by Friday, August 16 – or else.
