Neil Young considers legal action against Donald Trump to block music use
Music legend Neil Young has suggested he will pursue legal action against President Donald Trump for using his music at campaign rallies
Neil Young has said he may follow in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones in suing Donald Trump for playing his music at campaign events.
The Down by the River singer says he’s considering legal action against the “Rogue President” while launching a furious attack on his leadership.
Young, a frequent critic of Trump, previously said there is no legal redress to stop the US leader from using his music during his campaign rallies.
But after the Stones launched a bid to stop their songs being used, the 74-year-old Canadian says he is now “reconsidering.”
“I am changing my mind about suing Donald Trump,” Young wrote on his website.
“I am looking at it again. There is a long history to consider, and I originally considered it, deciding not to pursue.”
Young suggested his change of heart was sparked by Trump’s use of heavily armed agents he labelled “thugs” being sent into US cities to curb civil unrest.
Trump boasted about sending in troops following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police in May.
In his post, Young said Trump “ordered thugs in uniform onto our streets” and shared a video of federal agents using force against a military veteran in Portland, Oregon.
“Trump has no respect for our military,” he wrote.
“They are not to be used on the streets of America against law-abiding citizens for a Political charade orchestrated by a challenged President.”
Young, who is married to actress Daryl Hannah, continued by describing the officers as “thugs with no IDs shooting Americans on the streets.”
“They are not our police,” he added.
“Our police should arrest these untrained thugs for breaking our laws. They have zero de-escalation training, a must have for the job they are mishandling, so they’re totally unqualified to be there.”
The singer also attacked Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
America is currently seeing record numbers with 4.4 million infected with Covid-19 and more than 150,000 people dead.
“When the states asked for help with Covid 19, the president did not give it,” he wrote.
“He said he’s not responsible. When they said don’t bring military to our streets - we don’t need that, he did it anyway for his own political reasons - not for America.
“This rogue President is creating a much worse problem with his street thug army of uniformed hatred.”
Last month, the Rolling Stone s said they are set to sue Trump to stop the US leader from using their songs at his rallies.
After four years of attempts to try and get the President to stop using their 1969 classic, ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ the band are now looking to the courts to enforce a ban.
Lead singer Mick Jagger and songwriting partner Keith Richards are said to be furious their music is continuing to be used for Trump’s political purposes.
In the US, political rallies don’t need artists’ permission to play their songs as long as they or the venue has obtained a license from the performing rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI) for all the music in the licensing group’s repertoire.
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