The family of the late soul singer Isaac Hayes filed a lawsuit against the Trump campaign on Sunday, alleging copyright infringement when Hayes’ music was used at former President Trump’s rallies.
of suit It seeks $3 million in damages for the song “Hold On, I’m Comin'” being used 134 times at rallies between 2022 and this year, most recently at Trump’s rally in Montana on Friday, according to the lawsuit.
Hayes wrote the lyrics to the 1966 Sam & Dave hit, the rights to which are owned by his estate.
“Despite repeated requests from our client not to engage in such unlawful use, it has emerged that you and/or your campaign authorized the unlawful public performance of this song on multiple occasions at various political campaign rallies without the copyright owner’s permission,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit also demands that the campaign remove all videos that use the song in the background and issue an acknowledgment and apology for its use of the song.
This comes just days after Celine Dion condemned Trump’s use of her “My Heart Will Go On” video at the same Montana rally.
“Such use is not authorized in any manner whatsoever and Celine Dion has not endorsed such or any similar use… And what about that song, really?” she said. said.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
