You’d have to be pretty ballsy to mess with international pop star and national treasure Rihanna, but to be fair, President Trump is a pretty ballsy guy.
On Sunday, Trump played Rihanna’s song “Don’t Stop the Music” at a rally in Chattanooga, Tenn., and the vocally Democratic Barbadian mogul was having absolutely none of it. According to a letter obtained by Rolling Stone, Rihanna’s lawyers have officially slapped The Donald with a cease-and-desist letter.
“As you are or should be aware, Ms. Fenty has not provided her consent to Mr. Trump to use her music. Such use is therefore improper,” the letter reads. But this wasn’t Rihanna’s only response to Trump using her song. She also tweeted to a Washington Post reporter who attended the rally:
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Rihanna—who wore a Hillary Clinton shirt on Election Day 2016 and who is an active supporter of Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum—is one of several musicians who’ve had a few choice words about Trump using their songs at his rallies, including most recently Pharrell Williams and Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses.
“Unfortunately the Trump campaign is using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent. Can u say ‘shitbags?!'” Axl Rose tweeted.
Other artists who’ve tweeted that the president better keep his hands off their records include Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, who also took to Twitter.
Michael Stipe was vehement (if a bit clumsy) in his condemnation of Trump back in 2015, and tweeted his displeasure using R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills’ account:
Other musicians who’ve contacted Trump’s team to tell him to please do stop using their music include Adele, Sir Elton John, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Twisted Sister and Queen as well as the estates of Prince, George Harrison estate and Luciano Pavarotti.
