The White Stripes’ Jack White has threatened to sue the team of former President Donald Trump after an aide used the band’s song “Seven Nation Army” in a campaign video.
Trump’s Deputy Director of Communications Margo Martin shared a video of the Republican nominee boarding a plane to campaign events on Thursday, with ten seconds of the famous bass-heavy intro to the White Stripes’ song.
White became aware of the video after it had already gained 65,000 views. The singer shared the post to his Instagram account with a caption threatening a law suit.
“Don’t even think about using my music you fascists,” White posted. “Law suit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your 5 thousand others.) Have a great day at work today Margo Martin.”
While Trump’s campaign events are covered by the ASCAP and BMI licenses that permit the use of music, artists still have the option to opt out of them. If an artist opts out and notifies a candidate of the breach, the campaign could be liable for $150,000 for each unauthorized use.
Martin has deleted the original post.
White didn’t stop his criticism with Martin, though, calling out Trump for his conduct at Arlington.
The former president has faced criticism for his and his staff’s conduct while attending a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the fallen soldiers. The ceremony marked the third anniversary of the attack in Afghanistan that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service personnel, where he blamed Biden and Harris for the incident.
“And as long as I’m here, a double f*** you DonOLD for insulting our nation’s veterans at Arlington you scum,” Martin posted. “You should lose every military family’s vote immediately from that if ANYTHING makes sense anymore.”
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s team for comment.
This was not Trump’s first falling out with the White Stripes, though. His campaign used “Seven Nation Army” in an ad for his 2016 campaign. White and his former wife and drummer, Meg White issued a statement, saying they did not grant Trump permission to use the song, nor do they support his campaign.
“The White Stripes would like to unequivocally state that they have nothing whatsoever to do with this video,” the post read. “They are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song.”
They would release merchandise related to their 2007 album Icky Thump shortly after, with the title changed to Icky Trump, and lyrics reworded slamming Trump’s ideologies.
White’s post on Thursday came just hours after ABBA also publicly denounced Trump and his campaign for using their music without permission.
At a rally in Minnesota, Trump used several songs by Swedish pop icons ABBA in video montages, including “Money, Money, Money,” “The Winner Takes It All,” and “Dancing Queen.”
Once ABBA learned of this, the group and its parent label, Universal Music, issued a statement requesting that videos from the rally be taken down immediately, and that Trump stop using the group’s music for his campaign.
“Universal Music Publishing AB and Polar Music International AB have not received any request, so no permission or license has been given to Trump,” the statement said.
Trump’s campaign has also faced similar demands in recent months from bands like Foo Fighters and pop star Beyoncé.
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