The White Stripes file lawsuit against Trump over use of song: 'This machine sues fascists'
The White Stripes are following through with their threat of legal action after an aide to Donald Trump posted a video featuring one of their songs, filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against the staffer and the former president’s campaign.
In the suit filed Monday in the Southern district of New York, the band accused Trump’s campaign of “flagrant misappropriation” of their 2003 hit, “Seven Nation Army.”
Last month, Margo Martin, Trump’s deputy director of communications, posted a video clip of the ex-commander-in-chief traveling to a pair of rallies with “Seven Nation Army” playing as he boarded a plane.
“Oh…. Don’t even think about using my music you fascists,” Jack White, one half of the rock duo, wrote on Instagram at the time.
“Law suit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your five thousand others,)” the musician said. The video appeared to be removed following the legal threat.
On Monday, White posted part of the lawsuit on Instagram with a message: “This machine sues fascists.”
In the lawsuit filed against Trump’s campaign and Martin, The White Stripes denounced the ex-president, saying they “vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by [Trump] when he was president and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks.”
The performers argued that Trump and his team “knew or should have known the use of their “highly-distinctive and immediately recognizable introductory riff” from “Seven Nation Army” was unauthorized because The White Stripes had “publicly denounced on various social media platforms in 2016 the unauthorized use of the [the song] in a pro-Trump campaign video for his first presidential run, stating in no uncertain terms that they were ‘disgusted by that association.'”
The lawsuit claimed that Trump’s campaign and Martin were unresponsive, which left the band “with no choice but to seek judicial recourse to hold Defendants accountable.”
Martin and a Trump campaign spokesman didn’t respond to ITK’s request for comment about the legal action.
The White Stripes are seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
In recent weeks, several music stars—including Foo Fighters, Celine Dion, and ABBA —have sought to distance themselves from Trump’s White House bid after their songs were played during rallies and campaign events.
