The household of late singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes is making it clear they don’t need to be part of former President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign.
The Hayes household on Sunday threatened a copyright infringement lawsuit towards Trump and his marketing campaign officers for his or her unauthorized use of Hayes’ tune, “Hold On, I’m Coming.”
The tune, co-written by Hayes and Dave Porter, and made well-known in 1966 by R&B duo Sam & Dave, has been performed earlier than Trump’s speeches at quite a lot of current rallies.
In a three-page letter issued by Georgia-based legal professional James L. Walker Jr., the Isaac household notes it has “asked repeatedly” for the Trump marketing campaign to not use the tune, citing 134 cases through which their request was not fulfilled. They’re in search of $3 million in licensing charges to be used of the tune between 2022 and 2024.
“Please be advised that failure to respond or delay in complying with these demands will be deemed evidence of intentional infringement, and we will have no choice but to proceed against all those involved, accordingly,” Walker wrote. “Thus, it is our hope that we can resolve this issue quickly and amicably.”
Hayes, a three-time Grammy winner who hailed from Tennessee, died in 2008 at age 65. The doc was shared on social media simply days after Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, pledged on social media to cope with the Trump marketing campaign’s use of the tune “very swiftly.”
“Donald Trump represents the worst in honesty, integrity and class and want no association with his campaign of hate and racism,” he wrote on X, previously Twitter, final week.
As for Porter, he supplied a succinctly worded response when requested about Trump’s use of the tune again in 2022.
“Hell to the no,” he instructed Tennessee’s Motion Information 5.
Trump and his marketing campaign staff haven’t but commented publicly on the specter of authorized motion from Hayes’ household.
Nevertheless, it marked the second time in current days that the marketing campaign has been hit with criticism over its music selection. On Saturday, the administration staff for Celine Dion blasted the use of “My Heart Will Go On,” the Oscar-winning theme tune from the blockbuster movie “Titanic,” at a Trump rally in Bozeman, Montana.
“In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use,” Dion’s staff wrote in an announcement shared on social media.
The staff additionally questioned the selection of “My Heart Will Go On, “which conjures images of a star-crossed romance aboard an ill-fated ocean liner: “And really, THAT song?”
