International superstar Rihanna just told Donald Trump to stop using her music at his “tragic” rallies in a viral tweet that has over 600,000 interactions and is still traveling. Rihanna has become the latest in a long line of musical legends and pop stars who have demanded that Trump stop using their tunes to sell hate.
Ironically, Rihanna is going to stop Trump from using “Don’t Stop the Music.”
It was a Washington Post reporter who noted that Donald Trump was playing her song “Don’t Stop the Music” while his campaign team plied his angry supporters with t-shirts.
It’s been said a million times, but here’s a million and one — Trump’s rallies are unlike anything else in politics. Currently, Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music” is blaring in Chattanooga as aides toss free Trump T-shirts into the crowd, like a ball game. Everyone’s loving it.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) November 4, 2018
That’s when the nine-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist unleashed a tweet read around the world. She wrote:
Not for much longer…me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies, so thanks for the heads up philip! https://t.co/dRgRi06GrJ
— Rihanna (@rihanna) November 5, 2018
Just last week, singer and producer Pharell Williams sent Donald Trump a cease and desist for using his song “Happy” at one of his hate rallies only days after a racist mass murderer killed 11 Jewish people in a Pittsburgh synagogue.
No less than fourteen recording artists, including Rihanna, have demanded that Trump stop using their music to push his political message of hate and fear.
It started on literally the first day of Donald Trump’s campaign for president when he played “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Canadian Neil Young as he descended an elevator in Trump Tower to a crowd of people paid to cheer him on. Amazingly, Trump had actually paid to license the use of the song in advance but ceased using it anyway because he’s an actual fan of Young’s, who supported Bernie Sanders.
The rest of the list of artists who’ve forbidden Donald Trump from using their music reads like a list straight out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including The Rolling Stones, Queen, the estate of the late George Harrison of the Beatles, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Twisted Sister and Guns N’ Roses.
But that’s just the beginning.
Elton John, Adele, Prince and even the estate of the departed Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti have all demanded that Trump stop using their songs.
If Rihanna’s demand that Trump stop the music isn’t bad enough for the orange-complected politician, she followed it up on Instagram with a healthy endorsement of Florida Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum who is seeking to be the state’s historic first black governor. Trump has spent his morning frantically tweeting insults at Gillum and supporting a GOP candidate so rotten, that even former Republican congressmen from Florida are shunning.
That post on Instagram to her 65.8 million followers is already nearing one million likes just one day later.