Prince’s estate has rebuked Donald Trump after the US president played Purple Rain at a rally in Minneapolis, the late singer’s home town, despite having pledged to no longer play Prince’s music at his campaign events.
The Trump campaign made the agreement in October 2018 after Trump used Purple Rain during the 2016 US presidential race.
“The Prince estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs,” the estate wrote on Twitter, sharing the letter from representatives for the president that confirmed it would not use Prince’s music “in connection with activities going forward”.
The band Queen also successfully prevented Trump from using their music. We Will Rock You featured in its entirety in a new campaign advert for the president, which he posted to Twitter on 9 October. It has since been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.
Trump had played We Are the Champions at the Republican national convention in July 2016. The band said its use was “unauthorised”, and Brian May later described the president as a “very dangerous man”.
Artists including the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Neil Young, Tom Petty, REM and Elton John have previously sought to prevent Trump from playing their music at his events.
