Foo Fighters Threaten Trump With “Appropriate Actions” After Hit Song “My Hero” Played for RFK Jr Intro at Arizona Rally

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The rock band Foo Fighters are threatening President Trump with “appropriate actions” after their 1990s hit “My Hero” was played while Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took the stage at a rally in Glendale, Arizona Friday night. The threat comes on the heels of other threatened legal action over songs Trump plays for his campaign.

Kennedy, a former Democrat who earlier in the day suspended his independent run for the presidency and endorsed Trump, walked on to a hero’s welcome from the 17,000 Trump supporters at a Turning Point Action rally at the Desert Diamond Arena headlined by Trump.

Back and off stage views:

The Foo Fighters posted two comments on X Twitter Friday night about My Hero being played at the Trump rally. The first was a simple “No” when asked if they had given approval and later a brief “Let us be clear” comment that post-quoted the earlier comment:

Billboard reported Friday night that the Foo Fighters are threatening “appropriate actions” against Trump and pledged to donate any royalties to the Harris-Walz campaign (excerpt):

“Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it,” a spokesperson tells Billboard of the unauthorized usage. Furthermore, “appropriate actions are being taken” against the campaign, the spokesperson continues, and any royalties received as a result of this usage will be donated to the Harris/Walz campaign.

…On Wednesday (Aug. 21), Beyoncé’s record label and music publisher sent a cease-and-desist notice to Trump’s campaign over its use of “Freedom.” Later that evening, the video was deleted from Cheung’s X account.

Additionally, on Aug. 11, lawyers for the Isaac Hayes estate filed a notice of copyright infringement and threatened further legal action against the Trump campaign over its use of Hayes’ “Hold On, I’m Coming” at multiple Trump rallies without authorization between 2022 and 2024.

The Trump campaign has stopped using Sam & Dave’s version of “Hold on I’m Coming” as Trump’s dance/walk-off theme and replaced it with the Village People’s YMCA.

UPDATE: A brief explanation of the music rights issue via WRC-TV (excerpt):

“You do not need to license the master recording of the song for a live performance only. So, what would normally happen is when you go to a concert, the venues themselves get what’s called a blanket license from the performance rights organizations.”

But even with that license, an artist or license holder can still object. So, campaign organizers often just press play on a song and hope it doesn’t anger those holding the rights to it.

…Artists, however, do not always have control over how and when their music is played. Political campaigns obtain licenses from performing rights organizations like ASCAP that enable them to use a wide variety of songs from the catalogs of recognizable artists at live events. If an artist objects to its use, the song is pulled from the license.

“If the artist has already gone to the PRO and told them to stop using it …your first step is a cease and desist letter from a lawyer. And sometimes that will work. And it does in many cases,” Freundlich said. “Now, once it’s pulled, technically, it’s a copyright infringement for the campaign to continue to use it.”

But not every campaign immediately complies, risking up to $150,000 in statutory damages from the copyright infringement for each work used.

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Kristinn Taylor
Kristinn Taylor has contributed to The Gateway Pundit for over ten years. Mr. Taylor previously wrote for Breitbart, worked for Judicial Watch and was co-leader of the D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com. He studied journalism in high school, visited the Newseum and once met David Brinkley.

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