This is a call from Donald Trump to the Foo Fighters.
A spokesman for the former US president and current Republican presidential candidate hit back at the multiplatinum band today after Dave Grohl and Co. complained that their hit “My Hero” was played at a rally over the weekend without the band’s consent.
“In times like these, facts matter, don’t be a hypocrite,” Trump representative Steven Cheung wrote on X, copying the titles of two Foo songs.
“My Hero” blared from speakers during a rally with new supporter Robert Kennedy Jr. in swing state Arizona on Friday, and the band made their dislike – and lack of approval – clear shortly afterward. The only problem is that the Trump camp said it licensed the use of this and many other songs from music publisher BMI.
Cheung quoted a British newspaper supports his point of view. The Independent tweeted or X-marked on Saturday that they had “seen documents that appear to confirm that the campaign did indeed license 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, particularly Republicans, facing the ire of artists for using their music at rallies. Over the years, campaigns have at certain times obtained blanket licenses from rights groups like ASCAP, either directly or through the venue of a rally or event. However, an artist can exclude certain works from the blanket license. Artists can also object to the use of a work on other grounds, such as if it violates privacy rights or trademark rights.
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Yet in recent weeks and months – and years – numerous artists have complained about Trump using their music at his rallies. Two weeks ago, Celine Dion’s management and record label objected to the candidate’s use of her music. Titanic “My Heart Will Go On” at a rally. And the family of late soul legend Isaac Hayes threatened a copyright lawsuit this month over the use of the Sam & Dave classic “Hold On, I’m Coming,” written by Hayes, at rallies.
And the list goes on – for all three of Trump’s presidential candidacies.
In fact, it has been a leitmotif of Trump’s campaign since he rode down the escalator to announce his candidacy for the White House in June 2015. Neil Young’s decidedly non-chauvinistic “Rockin’ in the Free World” was used as theapprentice The host took the stage to announce his candidacy. The politically hip Canadian rocker condemned the use of the word the next day, saying in a statement, “Donald Trump was not authorized to use ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ in his announcement of his presidential candidacy.”
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In 2020, the Rolling Stones threatened to sue Trump for using their timeless song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at his events. They were later joined by BMI and ASCAP in condemning the use of the band’s music. In response, a host of musicians joined the Artist Rights Alliance and penned an open letter calling on major U.S. political parties to “establish clear policies requiring campaigns to obtain consent from the artists, songwriters and copyright holders involved before publicly using their music in a political or campaign-related setting.”
The signatories of this letter included the Stones, Elton John, Aerosmith, REM, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Jason Isbell, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love, Linkin Park, Lykke Li, Train, as well as Lionel Richi, Lorde, Sia and Regina Spektor.
The rally music uproar goes back at least to 1984, when then-US President and former SAG Chairman Ronald Reagan told a crowd: “America’s future rests in a thousand dreams in your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: Bruce Springsteen of New Jersey.” The boss who Born in the USA Wave and one of the best acts in the world at the time, made it pretty clear that he didn’t like it.
