Hold on!
The family of Isaac Hayes sent a legal notice Sunday to Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee that demanded they stop using the R&B classic “Hold On, I’m Coming” at his events and pressed them to repay $3 million for prior usage.
The letter outlines more than 130 times Trump and Republicans played the 1966 classic that was recorded famously by Sam & Dave, but written by Hayes and David Porter when they were all pumping music out of Memphis-based Stax Records.
Hayes attorney James Walker wrote that Trump’s campaign and Republicans repeatedly played the song “without authorization from the copyright holder, despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client.”
Hayes’s son Isaac Hayes III said the family also plans to file a federal lawsuit accusing Trump of 134 counts of infringement at campaign rallies since 2022.
Trump’s campaign and the RNC didn’t immediately comment.
The Hayes Estate is demanding that by Friday, the Trump campaign cease any use of the song; remove all videos featuring the song from any websites or materials associated with Trump; issue a disclaimer stating that the family didn’t authorize the use of the song; and pay the estate at least $3 million for repeatedly playing the song, which usually is heard at the end of rallies.
Credit: Tyson Horne
Credit: Tyson Horne
Hayes III, who runs the Atlanta-based Fanbase, a social media platform that allows creators to get paid faster for their content, didn’t comment further on Sunday night.
But he has often talked about how his father, one of the most prolific songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s, was exploited. In 1976, Hayes’ music income disappeared after Stax Records declared bankruptcy.
And on Saturday, he slammed Trump’s campaign after it used his father’s song again, this time at a rally in Montana.
“Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of women and racist rhetoric,” said Hayes III. “We will now deal with this very swiftly.”
With his bass-baritone and flamboyant wardrobe — including a gold chain vest — Hayes chronicled the excesses of the streets, sex, and soul music through a musical persona that defined Black hyper-masculinity.
His gritty work at Stax, including his glorious “Theme From ‘Shaft’,” was a direct counter to the polished sounds coming out of Motown.
Hayes, who lived in Atlanta from the mid-1970s until 1992, died in 2008.
The Trump campaign last played the song at a rally in Montana on Friday.
It was at that same rally where they played Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” her hit song from the movie “Titanic.”
On Saturday, Dion’s management team and her record label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., issued a statement rebuking the use of the tender ballad, even asking, “And really, THAT song?”
The Trump campaign has routinely faced pushback throughout his presidential runs from artists upset he used their music without their permission, including the Rolling Stones, Rihanna, Queen, Ozzy Osbourne, and the estate of George Harrison.
Neil Young once sued the former president for playing one of his songs, and the estates of Prince and Sinead O’Connor each disavowed his use of their music at campaigns.
And Bruce Springsteen objected in 2016 when Trump blasted “Born in the U.S.A.” at one of his events, saying it shouldn’t be seen as a patriotic anthem but rather a critique of how the U.S. treats military veterans.
In contrast, shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris entered the presidential race, Beyoncé granted her permission to use the song “Freedom,” featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, from her 2016 landmark album, “Lemonade,” on her campaign trail.
