“Never, Never Use That Song Again” Says Son Isaac Hayes III
By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
The estate of music legend Isaac Hayes plans to sue the Donald Trump campaign for unauthorized use of the song ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’.
The family threatened a $3 million lawsuit over the weekend, saying the presidential nominee for the GOP and his lawyers have ignored previous requests to halt the use of the song at political rallies.
Isaac Hayes III, the son of the Grammy-award-winning artist, confirmed with The Hollywood Reporter on Monday that the family intends to sue, as the song has been used 135 times over the past several years without Trump’s team ever asking permission or paying to license the soul classic.
The song was the first major hit that Hayes co-wrote, and has been used extensively at several rallies and events since 2022, when it was played at a 2022 rally with the National Rifle Association (NRA), which infamously occurred in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The Hayes estate notes that shortly after the shooting deaths of 19 children and two adults, Trump closed his address to that song, which he also danced to.
Hayes III says the lawsuit is not really about money or licensing, but about the right of artists to not have their songs and their brands linked to political figures or movements without their express position. The use of the song after the tragic Uvalde shooting was particularly upsetting for the Hayes family, he said.
“I was pissed,” Hayes told THR. “There’s just been a mass shooting. So why are we using it at the NRA convention? I wanted to take legal action because Trump has made statements against women, and here is a man who has been convicted of sexual abuse. I’m a brother to seven sisters, and I don’t want anybody to think of ‘Hold On’ and think of Donald Trump.”
Under copyright law, artists can restrict the use of their work, but typically they have to go to court to enforce that restriction. As well, the Trump campaign has not paid any licensing fees for their use of the song, and so the estate plans to demand $3 million in licensing fees for the occasions when the song has already been used by the campaign.
This latest legal wrangle is hardly the first for Trump over the course of his three presidential campaigns. For example, the singer-songwriter Eddy Grand sued Trump’s campaign for its use of his song ‘Electric Avenue’, and many other musicians have issued public takedown notices. Adele, Earth Wind and Fire, Tom Petty’s estate, and John Fogerty have all issued statements demanding the campaign stop using their music without permission or payment. Most recently, the Canadian superstar Celine Dion, who wowed crowds and viewers during the Olympics, took to social media to disavow the use of her song ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a recent Trump rally.
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Most artists stop short of launching legal action due to the cost and complexity of these cases. Grant’s case, for example, has been ongoing for three years.
However, Hayes is confident the estate would win in court if that becomes necessary, and would likely receive far more than the 3 million the family is currently demanding.
“I expect a full takedown of the song and the amount that was requested,” Hayes said. “And never, never use that song again.”
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