Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes have filed a lawsuit against presidential candidate Donald Trump for an alleged “flagrant misappropriation” of their hit song “Seven Nation Army.”
Trump and The White Stripes have been in a feud going back to late-August when Jack White threatened to sue his campaign after Margo Martin, Trump’s deputy director of communications, used “Seven Nation Army” in a now-deleted video on X that featured the presidential candidate walking out.
“Don’t even think about using my music you fascists,” he wrote in a caption on Instagram. “And as long as I’m here, a double fuck you DonOLD for insulting our nation’s veterans at Arlington you scum. You should lose every military family’s vote immediately from that if ANYTHING makes sense anymore.”
Jack White was referring to an alleged altercation that occurred between Trump staffers and an Arlington official while the former president visited the cemetery to honor fallen soldiers. The Trump campaign has denied the altercation took place.
Filed in the Southern District of New York, the lawsuit claims that the Trump campaign did not seek permission to use the song. “This machine sues fascists,” Jack White said when captioning his post about the lawsuit on Instagram.
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According to Variety, the complaint says that the band did not obtain permission or an endorsement from the band to use their song, further claiming “that Trump and his associates knew or should have known that the usage was unauthorized and that it violated their rights under the Copyright Act.” The suit also pointed out the former president’s use of their song during his 2016 campaign, adding they were “disgusted by that association.”
“Jack and Meg say that the new infringement is ‘even more offensive’ because they ‘vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by Defendant Trump when he was President and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks.’ The band is suing Trump for monetary damages, attorney’s fees and costs,” noted the Variety.
As Breitbart News reported last week, former President Donald Trump has been temporarily blocked from playing music legend Isaac Hayes’ songs at his political rallies by a federal judge. Court documents showed that Judge Thrash “issued the short-term ban from Atlanta as a buffer until Hayes’ family follows through with their lawsuit, which seeks a permanent injunction. Trump, who has played the song as his exit music, won’t have to remove any of the previous online videos that included it,” according to TheWrap.
The Trump campaign told the New York Times that the song has been removed from the playlist.
“The campaign had already agreed to cease further use. We’re very gratified that the court recognized the first amendment issues at stake and didn’t order a takedown of existing videos,” Ronald Coleman, Trump’s campaign lawyer reportedly said.
The estates of deceased performers Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and Prince have also taken issue with the Trump campaign for playing their songs.
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