There are a myriad of reasons why Donald Trump is morally unfit for office. Among the biggest is his disregard for the rights of singers when he picks music for his rallies. We got a reminder of this on Monday night, when he got busted in the chops for swiping Adele’s music and using it at his rallies.
Since at least last week, Trump has used “Rolling in the Deep,” the 2010 hit that made Adele an international sensation, to warm up crowds at his rallies. The BBC’s Jon Sopel was on hand at a Trump rally in Lexington, South Carolina on January 27, and was taken aback to hear the song blaring over the speakers.
#DonaldTrump enters to #Adele at his rally in #Lexington SC – unlikely combo pic.twitter.com/OdbW5FBr8d
— Jon Sopel (@BBCJonSopel) January 28, 2016
Trump has also been known to use the theme from the 2012 James Bond film “Skyfall” at his rallies as well. It’s not just a passing interest; he’s a huge Adele fan. He attended Adele’s November concert at Radio City, and annoyed a number of fans by cutting in line to get to his seat.
When Adele’s fans got word that Trump was swiping their music, a number of them took to Twitter in frustration. The Independent, one of the biggest national newspapers in Adele’s native UK, got some samples.
“Don’t suppose he asked for her endorsement. Hopefully she’s objected.”
“Noooooo!! Not Adele!! Must Trump ruin that too?!”
“I think she’s cringing as much as we are … wish he would drown in the deep. The bigot.”
Well, it turns out Adele is none too pleased either. One of her spokesmen, Benny Tarantini, blasted out a statement to several American and British outlets stating that Adele not only hasn’t endorsed Trump, but “has not given permission for her music to be used in any political campaigning.” When CNN asked if this should be construed as a demand that Trump stop swiping her music, Tarantini refused to comment further.
Believe it or not, this marks the fourth time that Trump has been caught swiping music without permission. When he announced his presidential bid, he took the stage to the strains of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” When Michael Stipe learned that Trump was using R.E.M’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It,” he told Trump’s team to “go f*ck yourselves.” And Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler threatened to sue Trump if he didn’t stop playing “Dream On” at his rallies. Sounds like Trump is a really slow learner.
It’s not the first time that Adele has hit the ceiling over politicians using her music. In the waning days of his campaign, Mike Huckabee posted a cover of Adele’s “Hello” on YouTube making sport of his rivals in the Iowa caucuses. However, YouTube was forced to mute the audio when Adele filed a copyright claim. The video has since been deleted.
As dumb as this move was on Trump’s part, it looks even dumber when you consider that Adele is a leftie. Back in 2011, she declared herself “a Labour girl through and through.” Beyond that, a number of Adele’s fans don’t think her music meshes with Trump’s campaign. For instance, one of the lines in “Rolling in the Deep” is “You’re gonna wish you never had met me.”
I can’t help but recall how a number of Republicans slam Democrats as out-of-touch elitists. And now many of them are rallying behind a guy who seems to an entitled one-percenter from central casting. After all, Trump seems to think such things as music rights are things in his way.
