Prince's estate has lashed out at US president Donald Trump after he played the late artist’s song “Purple Rain” at a rally in the singer's hometown of Minneapolis.
The move violated a legal agreement made by Trump‘s campaign and the Prince Estate in 2018, which said no Prince songs would be played at the president's campaign events – per the request that was made after Trump used the song during his first election campaign.
“President Trump played Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music,” the Estate wrote on Twitter.
“The Prince Estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs.”
According to Politico, the letter from the law firm representing Trump’s campaign at the time acknowledged the Prince Estate’s request and stated the campaign would abide by it.
The letter reads: “Your letter requests, on behalf of the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson (‘Prince’) that the Campaign refrain from using Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ or any other Prince music in connection with Campaign rallies or other Campaign requests.”
It added: “Without admitting liability, and to avoid any further dispute, we write to confirm that the Campaign will not use Prince’s music in connection with its activities going forward.”
A number of high-profile artists and their representatives have demanded that Trump stop using their music during his rallies, including The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Elton John, Queen, R.E.M, Tom Petty and Neil Young.
