Adele Has an Unfortunate Message for Donald Trump
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After Adele fans complained that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was appropriating her music to spread his political message at events, the singer said he doesn't have a right to play her songs at his gatherings.
“Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning,” a spokesman for Adele told the Independent in a statement.
The singer said in 2011 that she calls herself a "labour girl" and doesn't want to wade the waters of political debate. Trump, who attended one of Adele's concerts last year, has developed a reputation for playing the 27-year-old's 2010 smash hit, "Rolling in the Deep" during campaign events, much to the chagrin of Adele fans who feel that it's unfair to use her music to further the candidate's agenda. He's also played her James Bond theme song "Skyfall" after he delivered a speech about America's bleak future.
You can see how people have spoken out about it:
Adele's comment also comes after fellow Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee used the British musician's song "Hello" in a promotional video for his campaign. The post's audio was swiftly muted due to a copyright violation, and his team has since removed the clip from YouTube:
Adele, who broke *NSYNC's single-week U.S. album sales record with her album "25" in 2015, is not the only artist to confront Trump over unauthorized music use. Aerosmith's leading man Steven Tyler recently told Trump to quit blasting his song "Dream On" at campaign events, arguing that he never gave Trump permission to play it at these gatherings. Tyler's attorney Dina LaPolt reiterated in a statement to E! News that Tyler is a registered Republican who was concerned with Trump's unauthorized use of his property and not trying to speak out against Trump's politics. The issue, Tyler wrote in a Huffington Post piece, was not "political."
"Trump for President does not have our client's permission to use ‘Dream On' or any of our client's other music in connection with the campaign because it gives the false impression that [Tyler] is connected with or endorses Mr. Trump's presidential bid," Tyler's cease and desist letter reads.
Trump responded on Twitter by saying he has a "legal right to use Steven Tyler's song," but won't play it at events anymore:
The band R.E.M. also called out Trump last year for playing its song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" at one of his rallies:
"While we do not authorize or condone the use of our music at this political event, and do ask that these candidates cease and desist from doing so, let us remember that there are things of greater importance at stake here," R.E.M. wrote in a statement. "The media and the American voter should focus on the bigger picture, and not allow grandstanding politicians to distract us from the pressing issues of the day and of the current Presidential campaign."
