GettyIn just one night, Donald Trump and his campaign managed to plagiarise current First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech, and massively piss off Queen.
Monday evening saw the first night of the Republican National Convention, and in true Trump style, the Republican presidential nominee entered the arena amid theatrical smoke and Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’.
Not just a cocky move, but a completely ‘unauthorised’ one according to the band.
An unauthorised use at the Republican Convention against our wishes – Queen
— Queen (@QueenWillRock) July 19, 2016
Back in June, Queen’s guitarist Brian May revealed that Trump’s use of Queen songs at the time had also been unauthorised, Rolling Stone reports. He asked that the music not be used again, saying: “It has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool.”
The band added:
Queen does not want its music associated with any mainstream or political debate in any country. Nor does Queen want ‘We are the Champions’ to be used as an endorsement of Mr. Trump and the political views of the Republican Party. We trust, hope and expect that Mr. Trump and his campaign will respect these wishes moving forward.
Not to mention, iconic frontman and singer Freddie Mercury – who was a LGBTQ Afro-Indian immigrant – would have lamented the choice given the fact he certainly wouldn’t have agreed with what Trump stands for.
Clearly, Trump didn’t listen:
[tweet https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/755235475518914560/ conversation=”false”]
And Twitter wasn’t having it:
https://twitter.com/BlkTilTheFuture/status/755786794587852800
The Moment Trump Made Freddie Mercury Roll Over In His Grave-yup… https://t.co/iWiM93yLxa
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) July 19, 2016
Heartbreaking that Trump used Freddie Mercury's beautiful "We are the champions." Just heartbreaking.
— Anne Rice (@AnneRiceAuthor) July 19, 2016
Freddie Mercury died of AIDS. He was a queer immigrant of non Euro heritage. Glad Trump used his music with dry ice. ????
— Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa) July 19, 2016
Trump comes out to Freddie Mercury, who the GOP platform would send to ex-gay therapy.
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) July 19, 2016
Even Adam Lambert, who now sings with Queen in Freddie’s place, had his say.
He shared an image captioned:
If your political party spends decades treating gay people as second-class citizens, guess what: You don’t get to use Freddie Mercury’s music at your convention.
— ADAM LAMBERT (@adamlambert) July 19, 2016
Sony have since released a statement on the fact the music was used without permission:
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has never been asked by Mr. Trump, the Trump campaign or the Trump Organization for permission to use “We are the Champions” by Queen. On behalf of the band, we are frustrated by the repeated unauthorized use of the song after a previous request to desist, which has obviously been ignored by Mr. Trump and his campaign.
Queen does not want its music associated with any mainstream or political debate in any country. Nor does Queen want “We are the Champions” to be used as an endorsement of Mr. Trump and the political views of the Republican Party. We trust, hope and expect that Mr. Trump and his campaign will respect these wishes moving forward.
Obviously, Trump and his representatives haven’t been quick to respond. And we doubt they will.
But the consensus from the public is clear – Trump, stop using Queen’s songs.
