Donald Trump has been served with the latest cease-and-desist letter from the Isaac Hayes estate. The estate of the legendary R&B singer-songwriter and composer demanded that the former president immediately halt playing “Hold On, I’m Coming” and compensate them with $3 million for all the times he has played it so far.
The letter, sent on Sunday, said that Trump and his campaign played Hayes’ song “without authorization from the copyright holder, despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client.” The complaint also included a list of “over one hundred times” that Trump has played “Hold On, I’m Coming” at his rallies since 2022, Rolling Stone reported.
“As we prepared this letter, there was an additional use in Montana just two nights ago, even with your office apparently aware that you had no permission,” the letter stated.
Additionally, while the cease-and-desist demanded that Trump pay for every unauthorized play of the song, the $3 million is “a very discounted fee for the normal license fee associated with this many multiple uses. The normal fee for these infringements will be 10 times as much if we litigate, starting at $150,000 per use.”
The estate has ordered a response from Trump and his legal representation by Aug. 16 or they will take this case to trial.
The family’s attorney said Trump has “willfully and brazenly engaged in copyright infringement,” BBC reported.
Moreover, Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, also stated online Sunday, “Today, on the anniversary of my father’s death we have repeatedly asked Donald Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use ‘Hold on I’m Coming’ written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter during campaign rallies but yet again, in Montana they used it.”
He continued, “Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly.”
The song, “Hold On, I’m Coming” was written by Hayes and his writing partner David Porter in 1966. The popular soul song sung by Sam & Dave took the Billboard R&B charts by storm in the ’60s. According to Rolling Stone, politicians like former President Barack Obama have previously attempted to use the song leading to tension with the duo’s Sam Moore.
However, this isn’t Trump’s first experience using unauthorized music by popular artists at his rallies. Celine Dion and her management issued a statement Saturday about Trump’s usage of “My Heart Will Go On” at the same Montana rally.
“In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use,” the statement said. ” . . . And really, THAT song?”
Alongside Dion, Trump has received complaints from artists like Tom Petty, Rihanna, the Rolling Stones, the Village People, John Fogerty, Aerosmith, Linkin Park and Journey.
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