Linkin Park have sent President Trump a cease and desist letter, after he retweeted a campaign-style video featuring one of the band’s songs, according to Huffington Post.
The track in question, In The End, was used to soundtrack a pro-Trump video posted on Twitter by a White House staff member, Dan Scavino, which was then shared on the president’s page.
The aforementioned video was removed within a few hours and replaced by a message reading: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
Linkin Park then made their stance crystal clear by posting a message on their official Twitter page, which said: “Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump, nor authorise his organisation to use any of our music. “A cease and desist has been issued.”
Linkin Park is not the first musical act to take issue with their music being used to promote Trump though.
In 2019, Sharon Osbourne blasted the president for using the Black Sabbath song Crazy Train in a campaign video, and made it clear that Trump was “forbidden” from using Ozzy Osbourne’s music in future videos or at his rallies.
A year earlier than that, Rihanna issued a similar response after learning that her track Don’t Stop The Music was being played at pro-Trump political events. She wrote: “Not for much longer… me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies, so thanks for the heads up!”
A mere week earlier, Pharrell Williams sent the POTUS a cease and desist letter, after Happy was played at a Trump rally on the same day as a massacre at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Since the clip was removed, Linkin Park fans have taken arms and have been re-sharing a tweet posted by the band’s late frontman, Chester Bennington, in 2015 criticising Donald Trump, which read: “Donald Trump is a greater threat to the United States than terrorism.”
Bennington went on to repeated this tweet in 2016 and 2017.
