Jack White set to sue Donald Trump over ‘Seven Nation Army’ use
Many in the music industry detest Donald Trump using their music, and The White Stripes founder, Jack White is the later to taken to social media to decry the politician’s use of one of his songs. Furthermore, White went one step further and announced he would be suing the Republican presidential candidate.
White has made no bones about his political opposition to Trump in the past. When the politician began using The White Stripes classic, ‘Seven Nation Army’, in 2016 on the campaign trail, the garage rock pioneer began selling shirts saying ‘Icky Trump’ in reference to the band’s song ‘Icky Thump’, and denounced The Apprentice star.
White also publicly endorsed Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders in 2020, performing at a rally the previous year. On November 20th, 2022, White was one of many people slamming Elon Musk for allowing Trump to join Twitter again. He wrote on Instagram: “So you gave trump his Twitter platform back. Absolutely disgusting, Elon. That is officially an asshole move.” This led to him quitting the social media service.
As the 2024 election campaign heats up, White has once again made his thoughts about Trump clear, and revealed plans to sue the politician. It all started with a since-deleted tweet on August 29th by Trump’s Deputy Director of Communications, Margo Martin, who posted a 10-second video of the election candidate boarding a plane to events in Michigan and Wisconsin backed by ‘Seven Nation Army’.
Although White no longer has X, he shared a screen-captured clip of it on Instagram and was forthcoming in condemning Trump and asserting that he would be suing him.
White wrote: “Oh….Don’t even think about using my music you fascists. Law suit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your 5 thousand others.) Have a great day at work today Margo Martin. And as long as I’m here, a double fuck you DonOLD for insulting our nation’s veterans at Arlington you scum. You should lose every military family’s vote immediately from that if ANYTHING makes sense anymore.”
White’s latest take-down of Trump comes during a busy period for him. At the end of July, he surprise-released his latest album, No Name, a record that saw him return to his best. In a four and a half star review, Far Out wrote: “It’s Jack White in a signature vein that timelessly revitalises the medium of the blues with each stabbing chord—rendering it pretty damn close to the masterpiece the world needs right now.”
What musicians have ordered Trump to stop using their music?
Since his first campaign nearly a decade ago, Trump has faced much opposition from the music community regarding using songs without permission. This has seen him receive criticism from the likes of Neil Young and Creedence Clearwater Revival mastermind John Fogerty.
This time out, several high-profile acts have publicly forbidden the former president from using their work, with a number occurring in August alone. Last week, Beyoncé threatened to send a cease-and-desist to the Trump campaign after he posted a clip using ‘Freedom’ on social media.
Also, last week, after Trump used Foo Fighters’ ‘My Hero’, while introducing Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Dave Grohl’s group issued a statement saying the band had not granted use, and said if they received a request they would have denied it.
They also told Billboard that “appropriate actions are being taken” and any increased royalties from the use would be donated to Kamala Harris’ campaign.
This week as well, Swedish pop legends ABBA slammed Trump’s unauthorised use of their music and video footage at a Minnesota rally. On July 27th, in St. Cloud, Trump played songs such as ‘Dancing Queen,’ ‘Money, Money, Money,’ and ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and used their videos without permission. This led to ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus saying Universal Music would “make sure” footage from the event is “taken down”.
Elsewhere, earlier this month, Canadian pop star Celine Dion also slammed the unauthorised use of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a rally in Montana. She also noted the irony of him using the Titanic hit.
On the other hand, Neil Young personally allowed Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz to use ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ at the end of his address at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
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