Prince Estate Blasts Trump For Playing ‘Purple Rain’ Again During Campaign Event
On Thursday (Oct. 10), President Donald Trump’s team played Prince’s iconic song “Purple Rain” during a campaign rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Doing so violated an agreement made in 2018 by the president’s campaign and the Prince Estate, as Rolling Stone reports.
The written agreement, where legal representatives for the campaign said they wouldn’t use any Prince songs in connection with Trump’s campaign was shared on Twitter by the Prince Estate. The Prince Estate made the request after Trump used the song during his pre-Election Day rallies.
Playing Prince before a Trump rally in Minneapolis is sacrilege pic.twitter.com/NPyrLqGWTJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 11, 2019
“President Trump played Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music,” the Prince Estate wrote on Twitter. “The Prince Estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs.”
President Trump played Prince’s “Purple Rain” tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music. The Prince Estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs. pic.twitter.com/FuMUPzSWOe
— Prince (@prince) October 11, 2019
The letter was written on a Jones Day letterhead from October 2018 and the Trump’s campaign legal representatives acknowledged the request that was made by the Prince Estate while also stating that the campaign would honor the estate’s wishes.
“Your letter requests, on behalf of the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson (“Prince”) that the Campaign refrain from using Prince’s “Purple Rain,” or any other Prince music in connection with Campaign rallies or other Campaign events,” the letter shared by the Estate via Twitter reads. ” Without admitting liability, and to avoid any future dispute, we write to confirm that the Campaign will not use Prince’s music in connection with its activities going forward.”
The Prince Estate isn’t the only artist representative to take issue with Trump’s use of music: rock legends Neil Young, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, and Aerosmith, among others, have also demanded that Trump stop using their music during rallies.
