‘Even more offensive’: Jack White and the White Stripes sue Trump claiming he ‘indiscriminately trampled’ on their ‘legal rights’ by playing ‘Seven Nation Army’ in campaign video

The White Stripes rocker Jack White, following through on a threat to sue Donald Trump and his campaign for the “flagrant misappropriation” of his hit “Seven Nation Army,” said Monday on Instagram that “[t]his machine sues fascists” as he shared a photo of the first page of his federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Trump individually, the Trump campaign, and Deputy Director of Communications Margo Martin, claims that playing “Seven Nation Army” — “among the most well-known and influential musical works of all time” — in the background of a video of the former president getting on a plane to campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin without White’s “knowledge or consent” amounted to a copyright violation.

The case, similar to one Trump faces against the estate of Isaac Hayes and resembling the objections of other artists, said Trump’s “self-professed” sophistication, business acumen, entertainment experience, and history of “being on the receiving end of numerous copyright claims by musical artists whose work he used without permission” all support the assertion that he and the other defendants “knew or should have known that the use of the 7NA Works in the Infringing Trump Videos was unauthorized[.]”

White said that his stance on Trump has remained unchanged since 2016, when the plaintiffs said “in no uncertain terms that they were ‘disgusted by [the] association'” of the White Stripes’ music with a “pro-Trump campaign video.” This time, though, the use of “Seven Nation Army” is allegedly “even more offensive to Plaintiffs because Plaintiffs vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by Defendant Trump when he was President and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks.”

Claiming that the Trump and the campaign “chose to ignore” White’s complaints prior to his filing of the suit, the plaintiffs argued they were left “with no choice but to seek judicial recourse in order to hold Defendants accountable” after their “legal rights” were “indiscriminately trampled” upon.

Seeking money damages and asking a court to block the campaign from playing the song, which is what happened in the Hayes case, White claimed that the defendants “did not seek a license” from him to use the song and added that he “take[s] a great deal of care in deciding whether, to whom, and on what terms they will license third-party uses of their music[.]”

Of note, in the Hayes case, the Trump campaign did say that BMI, a music licensing company, issued a “Music License for Political Entities or Organizations” in 2022, allowing the campaign to use “Hold On, I’m Coming.”

Isaac Hayes III, the late singer’s son who announced the lawsuit in early August, has said that he hoped the case would inspire “other artists,” and it seems it may have with White.

“I want this to serve as an opportunity for other artists to come forward that don’t want their music used by Donald Trump or other political entities and continue to fight for music artists’ rights and copyright,” Hayes said.

Law&Crime sought comment from the Trump campaign.

Read the lawsuit here.

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