President Donald Trump’s team played Prince’s “Purple Rain” during a rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday, violating an agreement made by Trump’s campaign and the Prince Estate in 2018. The Prince Estate shared the written agreement on Twitter. The letter from the campaign’s legal representatives said it would not use any Prince songs in connection with Trump campaign events, per the estate’s request that was made after Trump used the song during pre-Election Day rallies.
“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.”
In the letter on Jones Day letterhead from October 2018, the law firm that represented Trump’s campaign at the time (according to Politico, Trump hired its own in-house attorney for his 2020 run in April), acknowledged the Prince Estate’s request and stated the campaign would abide by it.
“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.”
A representative for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Many artists have asked Trump to stop using their music during his rallies, dating back to when he first campaigned as a Republican presidential candidate. The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Tom Petty and Aerosmith, among others, have all demanded that Trump stop employing their songs.
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