Isaac Hayes’ family threaten to sue Trump campaign for $3 million over use of song ‘Hold on, I’m Coming’

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

The family of the late singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes has demanded that Donald Trump and his campaign pay $3 million for unauthorized use of the song “Hold On I’m Coming” at his rallies and in campaign videos.

The family sent Trump and his campaign a notice of copyright infringement on August 11, according to a post on X by Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III.

Hayes died on August 10, 2008. He co-wrote the song in question with David Porter, and it was first performed in 1966 by the duo Sam & Dave.

“It has come to our attention that you or the campaign have authorized the illegal public performance of the Song on multiple occasions during various rallies for your political campaign without authorization from the copyright holder, despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client,” the letter from his lawyer states.

The alleged unauthorized uses of the song span from 2022 to 2024, the letter shows.

The lawyer, James Walker, demanded that Trump and his campaign “cease the continual infringement of our copyright and stop all unauthorized use of the Song.”

Walker demanded that by August 16, Trump and his campaign cease using “Hold On I’m Coming” and remove all videos featuring the song.

He also wants the Trump campaign to release a statement saying that Hayes’ estate “have not authorized, endorsed, or permitted use of the Isaac Hayes Enterprises’ property at any point, now or in perpetuity throughout the universe.”

Walker insisted that Trump and the campaign pay $3m in licensing fees. That sum “is a very discounted fee for the normal license fee associated with this many multiple uses. The normal fee for these infringements will be 10 times as much if we litigate, starting at $150,000 per use,” Walker added.

Failure to comply will result in “legal action,” the lawyer warned, including demanding $150,000 per use of the song in damages.

The August 11 letter came more than a week after Hayes III posted that the Trump campaign used the song without the family’s approval at his Atlanta rally.

He wrote that his family is “taking legal action to stop the unauthorized use of this song. Donald Trump represents the worst in honesty, integrity and class and [the family wants] no association with his campaign of hate and racism.”

On August 10, the anniversary of Hayes’ death, his son wrote that despite “repeatedly” asking Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use the song, “in Montana they used it.” Trump spoke at a rally in Bozeman, Montana on Friday, where he bizarrely claimed that nobody knows Vice President Kamala Harris’ last name.

Porter, who co-wrote the song with Hayes, told The Independent last month: “I can say [that] I don’t want any of my songs used for political campaigns,” The 82-year-old added: “Certainly including this one… We create music for uplifting people, not separating them.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has faced the ire of musicians.

This week, Celine Dion’s X account wrote that her management team “became aware of the unauthorized usage of the video, recording, musical performance, and likeness of Celine Dion singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a Donald Trump / JD Vance campaign rally in Montana.”

In January, after former The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr discovered that his band’s 1984 song “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” was being played at a Trump rally, he wrote on X: “Ahh…right…OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this s*** shut right down right now.”

The Independent has emailed a spokesperson for the Trump campaign for comment.