Donald Trump’s campaign video was taken down from Twitter on Sunday. The removal was issued by Queen, whose classic song “We Will Rock You” was used in Trump’s video without the band’s authority.
To rally supporters, Trump released a campaign video clip last Wednesday. “We Will Rock You” as the background soundtrack was playing through the entire video. According to Rolling Stone, a few hours after publishing the video, a representative for Queen confirmed the unauthorized usage of the song. A tweet from BuzzFeed reporter Adam B Vary indicated that the band had “already entered into a process to call for non use of Queen song copyrights by the Trump campaign. This is ongoing.”
Don’t expect this video — which uses Queen’s “We Will Rock You” in its entirety — to remain up for long.
A rep for Queen told me tonight that the band “has already entered into a process to call for non use of Queen song copyrights by the Trump campaign. This is ongoing.” https://t.co/VTLRnLx87p
— Adam B. Vary Scary (@adambvary) October 10, 2019
The video was removed on Sunday, leaving an unwatchable tweet in Trump’s account, which currently reads, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by copyright owner.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2019
This is not the first time that Trump’s team uses unauthorized music. Trump’s campaign video has been criticized for using music without artists’ permission over the years. Artists including Neil Young, Adele, Axl Rose, the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Prince, publicly objected their music was used without authorization.
Last Thursday, Trump used Prince’s “Purple Rain” at a campaign rally in the singer’s hometown. “President Trump played Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music,” a representative of Prince’s estate was furious at this campaign, “The Prince estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs.” Prince’s representative requested Trump not to use Prince’s music after Trump used “Purple Rain” during the 2016 campaign. Trump’s team is reported as violating their previous agreement.
President Trump played Prince’s “Purple Rain” tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music. The Prince Estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs. pic.twitter.com/FuMUPzSWOe
— Prince (@prince) October 11, 2019