Pharrell Williams Latest Musician Telling Trump To Not Use His Music

Pharrell Williams threatened President Donald Trump with a legal action for using the singer’s song “Happy” at his rally in Indiana on Saturday, just after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Eleven people — ranging in age from 54 to 97 — were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue, where three separate congregations were holding services.

“On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged ‘nationalist,’ you played his song ‘Happy’ to a crowd at a political event in Indiana,” Williams’ attorney Howard King wrote to Trump in a cease-and-desist letter. “There was nothing ‘happy’ about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”

The cease-and-desist letter continued, "Pharrell Williams is the owner of the copyright in ‘Happy,’ with the exclusive right to exploit same. Pharrell has not, and will not, grant you permission to publicly perform or otherwise broadcast or disseminate any of his music."

Despite the tragedy Saturday, Trump decided not to cancel a campaign-style rally in Indiana later that day, where the song was played. During the rally, Trump joked that he had almost canceled the event because he had a “bad hair day.”

This is not the first time Trump has received a cease-and-desist letter for using a song at his rally without permission.

Earlier this month, Prince’s estate asked Trump to cease using “Purple Rain” at rallies. “The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or the White House to use Prince’s songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately,” Prince’s half-brother Omarr Baker tweeted at the time.

Trump also received a cease-and-desist from Aerosmith after he used "Livin' on the Edge" during a rally in West Virginia in August.

"It has come to our attention that President Donald J. Trump and/or The Trump Organization (collectively, 'Mr. Trump') have been using our client’s song 'Livin’ On The Edge' in connection with political rally events (the Rallies'), including at an event held yesterday at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia on August 21, 2018. As expressly outlined in the Previous Letters, Mr. Trump does not have our client’s permission to use any of our client’s music, including 'Livin’ On The Edge,'” singer Steven Tyler wrote in the letter to the White House.

"What makes this violation even more egregious is that Mr. Trump’s use of our client’s music was previously shut down, not once, but two times, during his campaign for presidency in 2015. Please see the Previous Letters sent on behalf of our client attached here as Exhibit A. Due to your receipt of the Previous Letters, such conduct is clearly willful, subjecting Mr. Trump to the maximum penalty under the law," the letter read.