Donald Trump campaign video featuring Queen's 'We Will Rock You' taken off Twitter
President Donald Trump shared a new campaign ad with his 65million Twitter followers on Thursday (10th October) that was soundtracked by Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’.
The two-minute video collated montage photos of Trump’s past rallies and featured Queen’s 1977 anthem ‘We Will Rock You’ playing for its entirety.
In response, a representative for Queen told The Independent the band “did not agree to the use of the song” and their “music publishers are removing it.”
Buzzfeed reporter Adam B Vary also tweeted: “Don’t expect this video — which uses Queen’s “We Will Rock You” in its entirety — to remain up for long.
“A rep for Queen told me tonight that the band “has already entered into a process to call for non-use of Queen song copyrights by the Trump campaign. This is ongoing.”
24 hours on from its posting, the video was duly removed this morning (11th October) and Trump’s tweet is emblazoned with the message “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
Back in July 2016, Queen blasted Donald Trump for playing ‘We Are The Champions’ at the Republican National Convention saying it was “unauthorised” and “against our wishes”.
Brian May released a statement on his official website at the time, saying: “I can confirm that permission to use the track was neither sought nor given. We are taking advice on what steps we can take to ensure this use does not continue.
“Regardless of our views on Mr Trump’s platform, it has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool. Our music embodies our own dreams and beliefs, but it is for all who care to listen and enjoy.”
Just last week, a meme posted by the US President was removed from Twitter following a successful copyright claim by Canadian rockers Nickelback.
The meme revolves around placing an alternate photo in the photo frame held by Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger in the video to their 2005 song ‘Photograph’.
In the meme Trump shared, he linked Democrat rival Joe Biden to accusations of murky Ukrainian business dealings by switching the image in Kroeger’s hand to a photograph of Biden and his son Hunter with Ukrainian gas executive Devon Archer.
According to Billboard, in the wake of the furore, digital download sales of ‘Photograph’ spiked 569% on 2nd to 3rd October compared to the previous two days.