The Rolling Stones are threatening to sue President Donald Trump for his reelection campaign’s use of their songs at his rallies.
In a statement to Deadline over the weekend, the band addressed Trump using their music after being told not to: “This could be the last time President Donald Trump uses Stones songs. Despite cease & desist directives to Donald Trump in the past, the Rolling Stones are taking further steps to exclude him using their songs at any of his future political campaigning.”
The Stones’ legal team is currently working with music rights organization BMI, which “has notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the Stones that the unauthorized use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing agreement,” the band added. “If Donald Trump disregards the exclusion and persists, then he would face a lawsuit for breaking the embargo and playing music that has not been licensed.”
The band declined to provide HuffPost with further comment.
Trump has repeatedly used The Stones’ song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as his walk-off song at rallies — including at his rally earlier this month in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The band previously expressed their distaste for Trump using their music without permission when he used the song during his campaign in 2016.
BMI told HuffPost in a statement that the Trump campaign has “a Political Entities License which authorizes the public performance of more than 15 million musical works in BMI’s repertoire wherever campaign events occur.”
“There is a provision, however, that allows BMI to exclude musical works from the license if a songwriter or publisher objects to its use by a campaign. BMI has received such an objection and sent a letter notifying the Trump campaign that the Rolling Stones’ works have been removed from the campaign license, and advising the campaign that any future use of these musical compositions will be in breach of its license agreement with BMI,” the statement reads.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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