Tom Petty estate opens legal action against Republican Kari Lake
The estate of rock legend Tom Petty has announced that they are exploring all their legal options after the Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona, Kari Lake, used Petty’s 1989 hit single ‘I Won’t Back Down’ without authorisation during her failed political campaign.
Petty’s estate took to his official Twitter account to write a statement. It read, “The Tom Petty estate and our partners were shocked to find out that Tom’s song ‘I Won’t Back Down’ was stolen and used without permission or a license to promote Kari Lake’s failed campaign.”
“This is illegal,” the statement continued. “We are exploring all of our legal options to stop this unauthorised use and to prohibit future misappropriations of Tom’s beloved anthem. Thank you to all of the fans who brought this to our attention and who help us protect his legacy every day.”
Lake – a former news anchor – lost the election race for Arizona Governer to her Democratic opposite Katie Hobbs. However, Lake refused to concede and used the same tactics as Donald Trump when he lost the 2021 presidential election, questioning the counting of votes and raising a conspiracy of fraud.
Trump himself had also used ‘I Won’t Back Down’ in 2020 on his presidential campaign trail in Oklahoma. The Petty estate had issued a similar response, stating, “Trump was in no way authorised to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind.”
They went on to rightfully accuse Trump of being discriminative: “Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind. Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate. He likes to bring people together. We believe in America, and we believe in democracy. But Donald Trump is not representing the noble ideas of either. We would hate for fans who have been marginalised by this administration to think we were complicit in this usage.”
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