Family of Isaac Hayes threaten Donald Trump with lawsuit over use of song in rallies

The family of late soul and funk singer Isaac Hayes has ordered Donald Trump to stop using the Hayes-penned song Hold On, I’m Comin’ at campaign rallies.

A letter sent to Trump and his campaign team, shared by Hayes’s son Isaac Hayes III, threatens Trump with legal action if he continues to use the 1966 Sam & Dave song, written by Hayes and David Porter. It alleges copyright infringement, and also demands $3m in licensing fees incurred from the use of the song between 2022 and 2024.

The letter, from lawyer James Walker, alleges that the Trump campaign “wilfully and brazenly engaged in copyright infringement”, and continued using the song “despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client”.

Walker alleges that the song has been used so frequently that the $3m figure is “heavily discounted”. The letter also states that if a resolution is not made and a lawsuit is then issued, the Hayes family will demand damages of $150,000 per use of the song.

On Saturday, Hayes III wrote that Trump – who has previously been filmed dancing to Hold On, I’m Comin’ – used the song in a Montana rally despite being asked not to. “We will now deal with this very swiftly … Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of women and racist rhetoric.”

In 2022, the Hayes family criticised Trump for using the song at a National Rifle Association convention, less than a week after the Uvalde school shooting , where 19 students died. “Our condolences go out to the victims and families of Uvalde and mass shooting victims everywhere,” they wrote.

Porter, the song’s co-writer, also wrote: “I did not and would not approve of them using the song for any of his purposes.” Hayes and Porter wrote the song as staff writers for Stax Records, prior to Hayes’s solo career – their other co-written hits include Sam & Dave’s Soul Man.

Trump and his campaign team have not commented on the threat of legal action or the alleged copyright infringement.

On Saturday, Céline Dion rebuked Trump over the use of My Heart Will Go On in the same Bozeman, Montana rally, though did not threaten legal action. “In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use,” a statement read. “And really, THAT song?”, it added – Trump had been widely mocked for using a song commonly associated with a sinking ship in a campaign rally.

Dion’s Titanic soundtrack ballad was the latest peculiar and even comical musical choice by the Trump campaign in recent years. The Smiths’ Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, a naked and vulnerable plea, was played at a rally in January, prompting the band’s Johnny Marr to write : “I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this shit shut right down right now.” Michael Stipe of REM said “do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign,” after It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine) – a cheerily apocalyptic song – was used in 2015.

So many other musicians have opposed Donald Trump using their music in rallies that they collectively have their own page on Wikipedia . Some of the most prominent include Adele, the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith; the estates of the late Leonard Cohen, Luciano Pavarotti and George Harrison have also voiced opposition.

Trump frequently used Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World at rallies, prompting the Toronto-born musician to write an open letter in 2020 in which he acknowledged he didn’t have legal recourse to block the use, but stated: “ You are a disgrace to my country … Your mindless destruction of our shared natural resources, our environment and our relationships with friends around the world is unforgivable.”