Donald Trump The Magnificent
Brian May to Donald Trump: Don’t Use Our Music as a Campaign Tool
He may have won the presumptive Republican Party nomination in the upcoming presidential election, but Donald Trump’s not everybody’s champion. The businessman can add Brian May to the list of people who aren’t a fan, after he’d used Queen classic “We Are the Champions” in his campaign without the band’s permission.
Trump the Petulant
After winning the final round of Republican primaries, Trump stepped on stage to the iconic rock anthem for his victory speech. Now guitarist May has issued a firm statement denouncing the politician’s use of the song, writing on the band’s website:
“I've had an avalanche of complaints – some of which you can see in our 'Letters' page – about Donald Trump using our 'We Are the Champions' track as his 'theme' song on USA TV. This is not an official Queen statement, but I can confirm that permission to use the track was neither sought nor given. We are taking advice on what steps we can take to ensure this use does not continue. Regardless of our views on Mr. Trump's platform, it has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool.”
And although the original statement is neutral on his policies, in the ‘Letters’ section of the site, May responded to a fan who commented on Trump’s usage of the track, saying: “I will make sure we take what steps we can to dissociate ourselves from Donald Trump's unsavoury campaign."
This is not an official Queen statement, but I can confirm that permission to use the track was neither sought nor given.
May isn’t the first musician to deny Trump use of their music. In September R.E.M’s Michael Stipe sent a harsh warning to the real-estate tycoon after he used their hit “The End of The World As We Know It” at a rally. Whereas singer Neil Young was said to be annoyed that his track "Rockin’ in the Free World” was playing when Trump announced his candidacy back in June 2015.
