Donald Trump Plays GNR, Sinead O’Connor, Village People Songs During Town Hall After Repeatedly Being Asked Not To
With just three weeks to go before the crucial Nov. 5 presidential election, Donald Trump is doubling down on a lot of his most controversial campaign rally greatest hits. In addition to denigrating his rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, by employing abelist slurs at a recent event, the twice-impeached Trump threatened to employ the military to “handle” his left-wing detractors in an weekend interview. The MAGA leader also bailed on a planned town hall in Pennsylvania on Monday (Oct. 14) in favor of dancing along to a nearly 40 minute playlist of songs featuring a number of artists who’ve explicitly asked him (more than once) to stop playing their music at his rallies.
According to ABC, the event in Oaks, Pa., in the crucial swing state was twice interrupted by medical emergencies in the crowd in the overheated Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds. Half an hour in, an attendee was stretchered out of the venue, which reportedly prompted Trump to ask the sound person to fire up Schubert’s operatic “Ave Maria.” After a second person fainted and was attended to, Trump asked for the doors to be opened to let some fresh air in, before being told that was not possible for security reasons.
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After making a joke about people passing out, Trump dispensed with questions and kicked off what the Washington Post described as a “bizarre” 30-plus minute playlist song and dance during which he cued up a number of well-known tracks by artists who have explicitly, and repeatedly, asked him to cease and desist from playing their music at his rallies, and swayed along to the songs.
According to video from the evening, Trump played Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” as well as Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain,” James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” Elvis’ “An American Trilogy,” the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” and Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye.”
In a statement issued Tuesday morning (Oct. 15), Harris supporter Wainwright lambasted Trump for playing the singer’s version of Cohen’s beloved 1984 hymn to the universal struggle of love and heartbreak.
“The song ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonard Cohen has become an anthem dedicated to peace, love and acceptance of the truth. I’ve been supremely honored over the years to be connected with this ode to tolerance,” wrote Wainwright. “Witnessing Trump and his supporters commune with this music last night was the height of blasphemy. Of course, I in no way condone this and was mortified, but the good in me hopes that perhaps in inhabiting and really listening to the lyrics of Cohen’s masterpiece, Donald Trump just might experience a hint of remorse over what he’s caused. I’m not holding my breath.” The statement also noted that the publishing company for the Cohen estate has sent a cease-and-desist order to the Trump campaign.
GNR and O’Connor’s reps have pointedly asked Trump not to play their music during his campaign stops, with the Village People threatening to sue the former reality TV star last year over what they said was a lookalike band playing their hits at his Mar-a-Lago Florida private club after years of asking him to remove their 1978 queer disco classic from his queue. At press time, spokespeople for GNR and O’Connor’s estate had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on Trump’s Monday playlist event.
In a statement sent to Billboard on Tuesday morning, Village People co-founder, “Y.M.C.A.” lyricist and one of the owners of the song’s copyright Victor Willis responded to Trump’s use of their anthem, writing, “I have been inundated with hundreds of complaints from the public and press about Donald Trump and his campaign’s use of my song,” he said. “Me, and the Village People as well, have in the past opposed Trump’s use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and we have made this very clear to him.”
Willis continued, “But, he has continued to use the song because he’s legally entitled to do so because he took the time to apply for a political use license, which was granted by my performance rights organization, BMI. Could I have asked my wife, who’s a lawyer, to have BMI revoke his political use license… yes.” But Willis said he decided not to because Trump’s repeated use has “greatly benefited” the song, which he said shot it to No. 2 on Billboard’s digital chart.
“So, we decided to no longer oppose his use until the end of the presidential campaign,” Willis said. “Some fans are demanding that I sue. I am not going to sue the President over his use of ‘Y.M.C.A.’ because it’s stupid and just plain hateful. Though I don’t dislike Trump, I am a registered Democrat who supports Kamala Harris for President.” He said Harris is also free to play the song if she wants to.
In the latest post trolling her opponent, Harris wrote “hope he’s okay” along with video from the event of Trump solemnly swinging side-to-side as he listened to the various songs.
The candidate vying for a second White House stint — in the midst of his third overall campaign — has accumulated a long list of acts who do not want to be associated with his divisive, frequently mendacious rhetoric. Over the course of two weeks this summer, Beyoncé, the Foo Fighters and Jack White all slammed the Trump campaign for using their music without permission.
They joined a long list of acts who’ve made similar requests since Trump — who in May was convicted of 34 felonies — first ran for the nation’s highest office in 2016, a roster that includes Adele, Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie, Celine Dion, Earth, Wind & Fire, George Harrison, Neil Young, Isaac Hayes, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Ozzy Osbourne, Prince’s estate and R.E.M., among many others.
Trump has mostly ignored those pleas, even in the face of a lawsuit from the estate of Hayes, though according to previous Billboard reporting, there is a long tradition of campaigns hijacking artist’s songs for their own political ends with little blowback. In reality, if a campaign obtains a license to use songs from the catalogs of the leading performing rights organizations BMI and ASCAP — which cover nearly every recognizable song you can think of — they are free to play them. There is, however, a “caveat” in the license that allows the songwriters to object to use of their compositions in a political campaign, which could result in the rights orgs pulling a song from a candidate’s license.
In August, the Foo Fighters vowed to donate royalties from “My Hero” to the Harris campaign following Trump’s blasting of the song at a rally where he was endorsed by rival-turned-supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. At the time, the Independent reported that it had reviewed documents that appeared to confirm that the Trump campaign had licensed the song from BMI’s Songview service.
Editor’s note: The Trump campaign responded to Billboard’s request for comment on Wednesday (Oct. 16) with a statement from RNC spokesperson Taylor Rogers. “The campaign has a license to play the music through an agreement with BMI and ASCAP,” it read. “It’s a shame that some artists want to limit half of the country from enjoying their music.”
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