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Rihanna sends Trump cease and desist letter for playing her music at Republican rallies

Pop star tweeted her disapproval after learning Trump was playing her music at rallies 

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Tuesday 06 November 2018 04:08 EST
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Rihanna has sent Donald Trump a cease and desist letter ordering him to stop playing her songs at political events, including the track "Don't Stop the Music".

Yesterday (5 November), Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, tweeted her disapproval after learning that the US president had been playing her music at his rallies.

She branded the rallies "tragic" and appeared to hint that she was going to stop Trump from continuing to use her songs.

Her legal team has since sent Trump a cease and desist letter for playing her songs at multiple political events, Rolling Stone reports.

“As you are or should be aware, Ms Fenty has not provided her consent to Mr. Trump to use her music,” her legal team reportedly wrote in a letter sent to Trump’s White House counsel. “Such use is therefore improper.”

The letter also allagedly claimed that Trump’s use of Rihanna's music “creates a false impression that Ms. Fenty is affiliated with, connected to or otherwise associated with Trump”.

Pharrell’s lawyers recently sent the president a cease and desist letter after Trump played “Happy” at a campaign event shortly following the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

Axl Rose also called out the president for his unauthorised use of Guns N’ Roses’ songs, calling them “s***bags” for using the legendary rock band's music during the president's political rallies.

In a Twitter rant, Rose says that the band, “like a lot of artists opposed to the unauthorised use of their music at political events”, has formally asked that their music not be used “at Trump rallies or Trump associated events”.

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However, he claims that, despite the request, the campaign “is using loopholes in the various venues' blanket performance licenses” and playing music without the artists' permission.

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