Donald Trump received a cease-and-desist letter from Aerosmith over the weekend for his repeated use of their 1973 song “Dream On” at his campaign rallies.
According to the letter, Trump was first asked to stop playing the song at his campaign stops on Aug. 21 after an event in Mobile, Ala. His continued use of the song prompted the letter.
“Trump for President does not have our client’s permission to use ‘Dream On’ or any of our client’s other music in connection with the campaign because it gives the false impression that he is connected with or endorses Mr. Trump’s presidential bid,” reads the letter, obtained by the Hollywood Reporter.
The letter went on to say that Steven Tyler and his representatives at LaPolt Law are “unaware” of any public performance license giving Trump permission to play “Dream On.” It asked the business mogul, who is currently leading the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, to forward them any license to use the song if he has it.
“If Trump for President does not comply with our demands, our client will be forced to pursue any and all legal or equitable remedies which our client may have against you,” the letter said.
Trump played “Dream On” during his presidential announcement, and Tyler attended the first Republican presidential debate in August as a special guest of Trump’s. He used it Monday as his entrance theme to a roundtable in New Hampshire.
Last year, Trump attended an Aerosmith concert and praised Tyler and the band on Twitter:
I attended @Aerosmith concert last night in Newark, NJ. Doesn’t get any better than that. @IamStevenT was fantastic, great energy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2014
This isn’t the first time a musician or band expressed displeasure about Trump’s use of one of their songs in his presidential campaign.
Neil Young got upset when Trump used his song song “Rockin’ the Free World” during his campaign’s kickoff event. Young is a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and he had no qualms with Sanders using the song during a rally in Denver.
Trump drew the ire of R.E.M. when he played their 1987 song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” during a rally in Washington, D.C., in September.
“Go f— yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men,” R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills tweeted.
