The iconic ’70s pop group ABBA has demanded that former President Trump stop using their songs at his campaign rallies and cease using footage that features them. According to The Guardian:
The Republican presidential candidate played hits including Money, Money, Money, The Winner Takes It All and Dancing Queen at his event in St Cloud, Minnesota, the US state with the highest Swedish population, on Tuesday, the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported.
The campaign also showed film footage of Abba members on a big video screen at the hockey stadium alongside messages urging supports to donate.
Universal Music, the Swedish group’s record company, said they had not been asked for permission to use Abba music or videos by the Trump campaign and that footage from the event must be “immediately taken down and removed”.
A spokesperson for the group said no license or permission was ever given to the Trump campaign.
“Together with the members of ABBA, we have discovered that videos have been released where ABBAa’s music/videos has been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately taken down and removed,” it said.
“Universal Music Publishing AB and Polar Music International AB have not received any request, so no permission or licence has been given to Trump.”
Björn Ulvaeus, a member of ABBA, also told the Swedish news agency TT via text message: “Our record company, Universal, make sure it is taken down.”
According to the Associated Press, various artists and their estates have been asking Trump to keep from playing their songs this election cycle.
After a video of Celine Dion performing her hit “My Heart Will Go On” was broadcast at a Trump campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana last weekend, the response from her team was swift.
“In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use,” a statement posted on social media read. “…And really, THAT song?”
Dion joins a long list of performers who’ve objected to Trump using their songs. Ahead of the 2020 election, that included Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Phil Collins, Pharrell, John Fogerty, Neil Young, Eddy Grant, Panic! at the Disco, R.E.M. and Guns N’ Roses.
The estates of late performers Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty, and Prince have also taken issue with the Trump campaign for playing their songs.
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