Donald Trump fans are fuming at much-derided Canadian band Nickelback, after Twitter took down a Trump tweet featuring one of the band’s songs over a copyright violation.
Trump posted the music video for Nickelback’s 2005 hit “Photograph” on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon. The video was edited to show Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger holding up a picture of Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, golfing with a board member of the Ukrainian energy company at the center of Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Bidens.
“LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH!” Trump’s tweet read.
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But Trump supporters’ delight at the president’s use of Nickelback—which has long been an Internet punchline because of the perception that its songs are terrible—soon turned to anger at the Canadian band after Twitter took down Trump’s video for a copyright violation.
“Make America Hate Nickelback Again!” tweeted Matt Batzel, the head of conservative training nonprofit American Majority. “Nickelback was thrilled they were trending on Twitter so they complained to make sure they could unite the nation against them.”
Kristy Swanson, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie star who’s refashioned herself as a pro-Trump celebrity, called the takedown “a bunch of bull.” Swanson claimed that she had bought “Photograph” on iTunes because of Trump’s tweet but now planned to get a refund.
But Kroeger and the rest of Nickelback weren’t even behind the copyright takedown. Instead, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint was filed by Warner Music Group, which appears to own the rights to “Photograph.”
“Per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Daily Beast.
Nickelback and Warner Music Group didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Nickelback’s blamelessness didn’t stem the growing MAGA anger at the band. On Twitter, rank-and-file Trump supporters urged one another to reupload the video, with one claiming Nickelback “blew” a chance to gain a new fanbase.
Breitbart reporter Brandon Darby tweeted a picture of two upraised middle-fingers at the band. Former Breitbart reporter Lee Stranahan, now a host at Russian-owned Sputnik, declared that Nickelback “sucks.”
The anger continued on The_Donald, a Reddit community devoted to Trump. In one well-received post, a user pretended to be Kroeger and lamented that he had ruined his chance at MAGA-world fame.
“My band isn't very good but the POTUS shared my song, showing it to millions of potential new fans,” the post read. “Unfortunately my agent is a cuck and made me remove it so I have no new fans.”
