White Stripes Condemn ‘Illegal’ Use of ‘Seven Nation Army’ in Pro-Donald Trump Video
With a little more than a month to go until the U.S. presidential election, it remains unknown, if he is elected, how many of the more controversial aspects of Donald Trump's platform he'll be able to get done. However, he has already performed one seemingly impossible feat, getting the White Stripes to agree on something. Today (Oct. 4), Jack and Meg White issued a joint statement condemning his campaign and a video that used one of their most famous songs.
“Regarding the use of ‘Seven Nation Army’ in a Donald Trump campaign video," they wrote on the Facebook page of Third Man Records, "the White Stripes would like to unequivocally state that they have nothing whatsoever to do with this video. They are disgusted by this association, and by the illegal use of their song.”
Consequence of Sound notes that it doesn't appear that the video in question was created by the Trump campaign. However, they found one embedded in a tweet by someone going under the handle "@PizzaPartyBen" that links to a YouTube page run by "God-Emperor Trump." The clip features Trump speaking as the White Stripes' song plays underneath combined with all sorts of topical news footage. According to his Twitter page, @PizzaPartyBen lives in Cuckfield, England and has more than 62,000 followers. To date, the tweet with this video has received 1,280 retweets and 1,827 likes.
Although this video seems to be unofficial, Trump's run, as has frequently been the case with presidential nominees, has had its share of musicians taking exception to their music being used at campaign events. Aerosmith sent two cease-and-desist notices before Trump agreed to stop playing "Dream On," Brian May of Queen criticized "Donald Trump’s unsavory campaign” when he used "We Are the Champions" after clinching the nomination and Michael Stipe of R.E.M., one of the most outspokenly liberal bands ever, wrote a forcefully worded rebuke after “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was heard at a rally. “Go f--- yourselves, the lot of you,” he wrote. “You sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
However, staunch conservative Ted Nugent has not only thrown his support behind Trump, he's appeared in one of his ads.
Worst to First: Every Jack White Album Ranked