Rock musician Neil Young has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Trump 47 Committee, a fundraising committee, over its use of his song ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 12. The complaint was filed in federal court in Virginia, where the committee is based.
According to the five-page filing, the lawsuit claims that Trump was ‘personally aware that a license would be required’ to play the song at an event, and that he knew Young ‘has not and would not grant the required license.’ The complaint states that the use occurred despite a prior lawsuit and a 2020 settlement in which Trump allegedly agreed never to use Young’s music without permission. Trump is not named as an individual defendant.
Young and his lawyers, Robert Besser and Scott Simmons, wrote in the complaint that the 1989 song ‘is the opposite of everything that Donald J. Trump stands for.’ There was no immediate response to requests for comment sent to the White House, the Trump 47 Committee, and the Republican National Committee.
Young has objected to Trump’s use of his music before. In 2015, Trump used the track during his announcement that he was running for president, and a Young spokesperson said at the time that Trump was not authorized to use the song. When Trump played it again in 2018, Young sent a public letter asking him to cease and desist.
Other artists have also objected to Trump’s use of their music at political events, including The White Stripes, Rihanna, Axl Rose, Pharrell Williams, Linkin Park, and the estates of Tom Petty and Sinéad O’Connor.
Source: Rolling Stone Music
