Queen isn’t happy that Donald Trump defied their wishes and used one of its best known songs at the Republican National Convention.
At Monday’s opening of the RNC, Donald Trump walked on stage at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena to the band’s “We Are the Champions” before introducing a speech by his wife, Melania Trump.
On Tuesday, the legendary British rock band tweeted, “An unauthorised use at the Republican Convention against our wishes.”
An unauthorised use at the Republican Convention against our wishes – Queen
— Queen (@QueenWillRock) July 19, 2016
This isn’t the first time that the band has been upset over Trump using one of its songs without its permission.
In June, the band’s lead guitarist, Brian May, wrote that Trump had not asked for permission to use the song during his campaign.
“My personal reaction to Donald Trump using our music? We’d never give permission,” May wrote on his website. “We are taking advice on what steps we can take to ensure this use does not continue.”
But truth be told, there isn’t much the band can do, Sony owns the rights to Queen‘s music and can license them out as they see fit…and Trump had the licensing rights.
Sean Spicer, the communications director of the Republican National Committee, responded with a tweet of his own.
“Big fan but you are wrong @GOPconvention paid to license the use of song in the arena,” Spicer tweeted.
Big fan but you are wrong @GOPconvention paid to license the use of song in the arena #RNCinCLEhttps://t.co/sjQWFGp2ge
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) July 19, 2016
Some went so far as to suggest the late Queen front man Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS back in 1991, would not have been a Trump supporter…
My guess is that Freddie Mercury would not likely have been a Trump supporter
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) July 19, 2016
…but seeming that the late Freddie Mercury wasn’t even an American citizen to begin with, speculating about his support for American presidential candidates is a moot a point…
