Photo Credit: FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
Over the weekend, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign in order to endorse former President Trump. The only problem? The campaign played the Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” at the venue, which sparked the ire of the band and frontman, Dave Grohl.
Now the Trump campaign is firing back against the Foo Fighters’ criticism of using its music by pointing to the BMI blanket public performance license for venues. Songview was developed by ASCAP and BMI performance rights organizations to provide detailed copyright information for music. “We have a license to play the song,” a Trump campaign spokesperson told The Independent.
A spokesperson for the Foo Fighters said: “Foo Fighters were not asked permission and if they were, they would not have granted it.” That spokesperson says the “appropriate actions are being taken” to prevent the Trump campaign from using any more Foo Fighters music for its campaign. The band also stated that any royalties generated as a result of the usage will be donated to the Harris/Walz campaign.
Questions about the song usage started on X/Twitter, when a user tweeted the band to ask, “Hey did you let Trump use ‘My Hero’ to welcome RFK Jr. on stage?” The band responded with a terse, “no” and later retweeted the question with the caption, “Let us be clear.”
“My Hero” is the third hit single released from their 1997 album The Colour and the Shape. The single from their second album still receives plenty of play at their live show performances. Meanwhile, the estate of Isaac Hayes is preparing to take the Trump campaign to court to prevent the use of “Hold On, I’m Coming” during campaign events. The Trump campaign used the song, written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter and performed by Sam & Dave, while at a rally in Montana.
