Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is ordering Donald Trump to quit using one of his band’s biggest hits at campaign events, and has even threatened legal action against the GOP frontrunner.
Attorneys for the rocker, who attended the Aug. 6 Republican Fox News debate as a guest of Trump, issued a cease and desist letter to Trump’s campaign Saturday for using Aerosmith’s popular 1973 hit, “Dream On” on the trail.
Tyler at the Aug. 6 debate in Cleveland, OH:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, legal reps for Tyler first sent a letter to Trump, asking him to stop using the song on Aug. 21, after it was played at a stop in Mobile, AL.
After the song was heard again at a Trump event over the weekend in Georgia, Tyler took action.
The New York billionaire “does not have our client’s permission to use ‘Dream On’ or any of our client’s other music in connection with the Campaign because it gives the false impression that he is connected with or endorses Mr. Trump’s presidential bid,” states a cease and desist letter, which was obtained by THR.
The letter adds: “We are unaware of any public performance license granting Trump for President the right to perform ‘Dream On’ in connection with the Campaign,” and warned, “If Trump for President does not comply with our demands, our client will be forced to pursue any and all legal or equitable remedies which our client may have against you.”
Trump’s campaign was given 24 hours to acknowledge the letter by Tyler’s reps.
Steven Tyler, now 67, is friendly with Trump, having traveled to Russia with him, and previously appeared as a judge on one of the businessman’s Miss USA pageants.
That friendship will apparently not be getting in the way of Tyler’s business affairs.
The singer’s attorney, Dina LaPolt, said in a statement to THR, “This is not a political nor personal issue with Mr. Trump,” adding, “this is about the un-authorized use of his property. Steven is a registered Republican.”
LaPolt also noted, “Steven wrote 100% of ‘Dream On.’”
While Tyler’s camp fears the use of the song by Trump could lead some to assume the rocker endorses Trump’s campaign, Aerosmith has licensed the song numerous times in the past.
“Dream On” was heavily sampled on rapper Eminem’s 2002 hit “Sing for the Moment,” which was the twelfth song on an album that themed heavily on domestic violence and battery against women, and also referred to women as “bitches,” “hoes” and “sluts.”
Tyler is the latest musician to go after Trump for playing his music on the campaign trail.
In June, Neil Young ordered Trump to stop playing his 1989 anthem “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Young then announced he had given Sen. Bernie Sanders permission to use the song at his campaign events.
In September, alternative band R.E.M. scolded the candidate on Twitter for playing the 1987 track “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” at a rally in Washington in protest of the Iran nuke deal.