The White Stripes’ Jack White and Meg White have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for what they allege is the “flagrant misappropriation” of a recording of their hit song Seven Nation Army in a campaign video.
In an Instagram post on Monday, Jack White shared the first page of the lawsuit, filed in court in New York, with the caption: “This machine sues fascists.”
The video that spurred the legal action was posted by Trump staffer Margo McAtee Martin on X on 29 August, but has since been deleted. It shows the Republican presidential nominee boarding a plane with the opening riff of Seven Nation Army playing in the background.
Responding via Instagram at the time, Jack White wrote: “Don’t even think about using my music you fascists. Law suit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your 5 thousand others).”
The singer has made good on the threat, filing a copyright infringement suit, alongside Meg White, as the White Stripes, seeking “significant monetary damages”, and listing Trump, his campaign and Martin as defendants. The suit alleges that the campaign did not seek or obtain permission from the band to use the song, and did not respond to pre-litigation efforts to resolve the issue.
The lawyer Ronald Coleman, with Dhillon Law Group, who is acting for Trump on the matter, gave no comment to the Guardian on Monday, but said over email the defendants had not yet been served with papers. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
The White Stripes join a growing list of artists who have disavowed Trump’s use of their music as part of his campaigns for presidency in 2016 and 2024, including Neil Young, Beyoncé, Foo Fighters and Celine Dion. In late August, Universal Music served a legal notice to Trump’s campaign over their unauthorised use of Abba songs as part of his 2024 campaign.
Trump is also currently fighting two suits for unauthorised use of music as part of his campaign, from the estate of Isaac Hayes and from the Guyanese British musician Eddy Grant. Last week, a federal judge in Atlanta issued an injunction to prevent the Trump campaign from playing the soul classic Hold On, I’m Coming, co-written by Hayes.
In their lawsuit, the White Stripes say Seven Nation Army is “among the most well-known and influential musical works of all time” and said Trump and his campaign have sought to “generate financial and other support for his campaign and candidacy on the backs of plaintiffs, whose permission and endorsement he neither sought nor obtained in violation of their rights under federal copyright law”.
The duo also point out they previously “publicly denounced” Trump’s use of the same song during his 2016 campaign, stating they “vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by defendant Trump when he was president and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks”.
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