Isaac Hayes’ Family Threatens Donald Trump’s Campaign With Copyright Lawsuit Over Use Of “Hold On, I’m Coming”

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
14

The family of Isaac Hayes is threatening to sue Donald Trump’s campaign over what they say is the unauthorized use of the song “Hold On, I’m Coming” at rallies.

The family posted a legal letter from an attorney to the campaign, demanding that it stop using the work, which Hayes co-wrote with David Porter and was originally recorded by Sam & Dave in 1966.

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The family’s attorney, James Walker, claims that the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee “have willfully and brazenly engaged in copyright infringement” by using the song at rallies “over one hundred times.” They are demanding payment of at least $3 million, plus a removal of all videos featuring the song and a statement that Hayes’ family and estate never authorized its use. Walker wrote that the Trump campaign also “have not obtained a license or other authorization” to use the song.

Porter also has said that he did not authorize the use of the song, according to The Guardian. Hayes died in 2008.

The legal demand sets a deadline of Aug. 16, which is Friday.

The song was most recently played at a Trump rally in Montana on Friday evening. The campaign also got pushback from Celine Dion’s management team and her label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada, over the use of “My Heart Will Go On” at the same event. The use of that song, popularized in the movie Titanic, was not authorized, Dion’s team said.

The reps wrote, “In no way is this use authorized and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any other similar use…And really, that song?”

A Trump campaign spokesperson has not returned a request for comment on the Hayes or the Dion statements.

Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, said in a post on X, said that the family has demanded that the campaign stop playing the song for the past two years “and they just keep doing it.”

There is a long history of campaigns — primarily Republican — facing artists’ ire over the use of their music at rallies. At certain times, the campaigns obtained blanket licenses from rights groups like ASCAP, either directly or via the venue where a rally or event takes place. But an artist can exclude certain works from the blanket license. Artists also may object to the use of a work on other grounds, including that it violates right of publicity and trademark laws.

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