George Harrison Estate Blasts Trump’s ‘Here Comes the Sun’ Use at RNC
UPDATE: The Rolling Stones have denounced Donald Trump’s usage of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” during the Republican National Convention. “The Rolling Stones do not endorse Donald Trump,” the band wrote on Twitter. “‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ was used without the band’s permission.”
The Republican National Convention featured a parade of unauthorized song use, as Queen, Free’s Paul Rodgers, Earth, Wind and Fire and other artists have been critical about their music soundtracking Donald Trump‘s victory party. When Trump’s daughter Ivanka was introduced to the RNC, the Quicken Loans Arena pumped the Beatles’ George Harrison-penned classic “Here Comes the Sun” through its speakers. The Harrison estate expressed their displeasure on social media.
“The unauthorized use of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ at the RNC is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate,” the estate tweeted Thursday night after the Abbey Road track was broadcast. Instead, the estate offered the use of a more fitting All Things Must Pass song: “If it had been ‘Beware of Darkness,’ then we MAY have approved it! #TrumpYourself.”
The estate for Luciano Pavarotti is also upset that Trump has made continued use of the late opera singer’s beloved aria “Nessun Dorma,” with the estate relaying in a statement from Italy that Trump’s divisive rhetoric goes against everything Pavarotti believed in, Reuters reports.
“As members of his immediate family, we would like to recall that the values of brotherhood and solidarity which Luciano Pavarotti expressed throughout the course of his artistic career are entirely incompatible with the world view offered by the candidate Donald Trump,” they said.
Despite the backlash from the artists or their estates, it’s likely that the Trump campaign will continue to play whatever music they want at rallies: Although Queen’s Brian May denied Trump permission to use the band’s “We Are the Champions” in June, the Trump campaign ignored the request and used the 1977 song to introduce Trump’s wife Melania at the RNC’s opening night.
“We are frustrated by the repeated unauthorized use of the song after a previous request to desist, which has obviously been ignored by Mr. Trump and his campaign,” the band said in a statement issued by their publishing company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
“Queen does not want its music associated with any mainstream or political debate in any country. Nor does Queen want ‘We are the Champions’ to be used as an endorsement of Mr. Trump and the political views of the Republican Party. We trust, hope and expect that Mr. Trump and his campaign will respect these wishes moving forward.”