Attorneys for Grammy Award-winning singer Rihanna fired off a cease-and-desist letter to President Donald Trump after her music was reportedly played during a rally held by the Commander-in-Chief over the weekend.
“It has come to our attention that President Trump has utilized [Rihanna’s] musical compositions and master recordings, including her hit track ‘Don’t Stop the Music,’ in connection with a number of political events held across the United States,” the letter sent to the White House general counsel reads, according to Rolling Stone. “As you are or should be aware, Ms. Fenty has not provided her consent to Mr. Trump to use her music. Such use is therefore improper.”
The letter comes after the pop star vowed to stop President Trump from playing her songs at future rallies. Reacting to Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker’s tweet about the her music playing at President Trump’s Chattanooga rally, Rihanna tweeted: “Not for much longer…me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies, so thanks for the heads up philip!”
Rihanna joins Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and Guns N’ Roses co-founder Axl Rose who have demanded President Trump to stop playing their songs at his rallies.
“Unfortunately the Trump campaign is using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent,” Rose wrote on Twitter Sunday. “Can u say “shitbags?!”
Hip-hop producer Pharrell Williams sent a cease-and-desist letter to President Trump after his smash hit song “Happy” was played during the president’s Indiana rally — just hours after the deadly Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. “On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged ‘nationalist,’ you played his song ‘Happy’ to a crowd at a political event in Indiana,” the threatening letter read. “There was nothing ‘Happy’ about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”