Music

Queen Push Trump to Take Down Campaign Video Featuring ‘We Will Rock You’


Queen forced President Donald Trump to remove a video from Twitter featuring the band’s 1977 hit “We Will Rock You” last week, Buzzfeed reports.

Trump tweeted the video last Wednesday, October 9th, and it was unavailable on Twitter by Sunday, October 14th. The clip reportedly featured footage of Trump speaking at rallies while “We Will Rock You” played in its entirety. Before being axed, the video was reportedly viewed more than 1.7 million times.

At the time the video went up, a representative for Queen confirmed the use of the song was unauthorized, adding that the band had “already entered into a process to call for non use of Queen song copyrights by the Trump campaign.” The takedown request was ultimately carried out by Queen’s music publisher.

A representative for Queen declined Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.

Queen previously sparred with Trump back in 2016, when the then-candidate walked onstage at the Republican National Convention to “We Are the Champions.” In response, the band issued a statement via their publisher, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, saying they did not want their “music associated with any mainstream or political debate in any country” and they didn’t want the use of “We Are the Champions” “to be used as an endorsement of Mr. Trump and the political views of the Republican Party.”

Last week, along with angering Queen, Trump also garnered the ire of the Prince estate when “Purple Rain” was played prior to a Trump rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In response, the Prince estate shared a written statement claiming the Trump campaign’s legal representatives said it would not use any Prince songs in connection with Trump campaign events, per a request made after Trump used “Purple Rain” during the 2016 campaign.

An array of other artists have also asked Trump to stop using their music over the years, including R.E.M., Neil Young and Aerosmith.





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