The family of late soul legend Isaac Hayes announced they are suing Donald Trump after numerous failed efforts to stop the former president playing on of his hit songs at rallies.
“Hold On (I’m Coming)” is frequently used at Trump rallies and the former president has even been captured dancing along. The son of Hayes, Isaac Hayes III, said he was making the announcement on Sunday after repeated ignored requests.
The family is suing Trump and his campaign for 134 counts of copyright infringement for “the unauthorized use of the song at campaign rallies from 2022-2024.”
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A lawyer for the family, James Walker Jr., told The Daily Beast they are giving Trump “five days to pay or we will push ahead with legal action.” Walker Jr. explained he had not personally heard from the Trump campaign, adding the family asked Trump to stop a year ago, “and a year before that.”
“The family keeps asking him not to play the music,” Walker Jr. added. “They don’t want people to think he’s endorsing Trump. They are opposed to somebody stealing their music.”
The announcement came a day after the music legend’s son accused Trump of racism and disrespect to women in a furious social media post.
Former President and 2024 hopeful Donald Trump dances as he leaves the Alabama Republican Party's summer dinner in Montgomery.
ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty ImagesIn the lawsuit, Hayes’ family is demanding “the cessation of use, removal of all related videos, a public disclaimer, and payment of $3 million in licensing fees by August 16, 2024,” Isaac added. “Failure to comply will result in further legal action.”
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
“They care about the music being played in front of thousands of people... without any permission, he should be paying this family substantial money to play his music,” Walker Jr. told The Daily Beast.
“We’ve documented all the uses... We’ll start takedown notices on YouTube if he doesn’t take it down.”
On Sunday night, in response to MAGA criticism over the suit, Isaac detailed how the family took control of the song’s copyright ownership in 2022.
“Imagine asking someone to stop playing a song your family legally owns for 2 years and they just keep on doing it,” he wrote. Isaac explained estates commonly sell the publishing rights to other entities for large sums of money, but said “my family chose not to do so.”
“We are the ones that own the copyright... think about that. Typically in these situations it goes a little differently because there are publishing companies involved and everybody wants to remain neutral, but I don’t have to act like that, I don’t need to follow those rules.”
The action came just one day after the anniversary of the singer’s death. In a social media post on Saturday, Isaac expressed his frustration over the use of the song at a Friday night rally in Bozeman, Montana.
“Today, on the anniversary of my father Isaac Hayes death we repeatedly asked Donald Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use ‘Hold on I’m Coming’ written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter during campaign rallies but yet again, in Montana they used it,” he wrote.
“Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly.”
The rally is the same one that also drew condemnation from Celine Dion’s team for using her hit song, “My Heart Will Go On” without authorization. The post added: “...and really, THAT song?”
Just days earlier, on Aug. 4, Isaac again posted his frustration over the use of the song at a Trump rally in Atlanta that weekend.
“Once again, the estate and family of @isaachayes DID NOT approve the use of ‘Hold on I’m Coming’ written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter by Donald Trump tonight in Atlanta,” he wrote.
In 2022, the family again spoke out against Trump dancing to the song following his controversial speech at the annual NRA convention, just days after 19 schoolchildren and two teachers were massacred in Uvalde, Texas.
In a social media post from the singer’s X account, the family shared excerpts of the lawsuit directed at the former president, accusing Trump and the campaign of “continued intentional and unlawful actions.”
“It has come to our attention that you or the campaign have authorized the illegal public performance of the Song on multiple occasions during various rallies for your political campaign without authorization from the copyright holder, despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client,” a letter from Walker Jr.’s Georgia-based law firm Walker & Associates says.
The lawsuit further calls for any campaign media using the song to be removed, and for social media posts with an official disclaimer that the family did not authorize the use of the song.
Other artists call out Trump for using their work without permission include Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Rihanna and the estates of Prince and Tom Petty.
