Donald Trump spoke at a rally on Saturday (October 27) just hours after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Trump decided to play Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" at the rally, causing the legendary singer and producer to hit the president with a cease and desist letter.
"On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged 'nationalist,' you played his song 'Happy' to a crowd at a political event in Indiana," stated Pharrell's attorney Howard King in the cease and desist letter. "There was nothing 'happy' about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose." King also says that Pharrell refuses to give Trump consent to use the song at his political rallies, which would constitute both a copyright and trademark infringement.
Trump also received a cease-and-desist from Aerosmith earlier this year after he used "Livin' on the Edge" during a rally in West Virginia. According to Complex, Steven Tyler's attorney Dina LaPolt claimed that using the song violated the Lanham Act. The law forbids "any false designation or misleading description or representation of fact … likely to cause confusion … as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person."
