Isaac Hayes III, son of the late Isaac Hayes Jr., told podcaster Don Lemon Friday he isn’t worried about potential political retribution from Donald Trump after the latter’s inauguration this month. “If he wants to be petty, then let him be petty,” Hayes III said.
The families of Hayes and Dave Porter sued for copyright infringement after Trump’s campaign ignored a cease-and-desist for playing the song “Hold On, I’m Coming.” Hayes and Porter wrote the song, best known as performed by R&B stars Sam & Dave.
“I’m a believer in God, I’m a believer in what I’m doing is the right thing to do,” Hayes III told Lemon. “Donald Trump has enemies, there’s a lot more people that he can be made at, and he might have time for that. But again, I’m not going to move in a state of fear over a simple matter of copyright infringement.”
“If he wants to be petty, let him be petty, and so on,” Hayes III continued. “I mean, again, I understand the weaponization of the Office of the Presidency is something people expect him to do. And if that’s the case, I’ll handle it however I need to handle it.”
The estate of Isaac Hayes Jr. sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trump’s campaign in August. The letter was published on social media by former CNN contributor Roland Martin. The Hayes family demanded the campaign pay $3 million and remove any videos of campaign events the song was played at, as well as issue a statement that clarified the campaign was not authorized to use the song.
The letter also noted it typically costs $150,000 to use the song, and based on the number of times the Trump campaign used the song, the $3 million “will be 10 times as much if we litigate.”
“Today, on the anniversary of my father (Isaac Hayes’) death, we have repeatedly asked Donald Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, during campaign rallies but yet again, in Montana they used it,” Hayes III wrote on social media when the cease-and-desist was sent.
“Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly.”
Playing music in a venue is considered a public performance under copyright law. The responsibility for obtaining the necessary licenses from performing rights organizations like BMI, ASCAP and SESAC usually falls on the venue owner or operator. It is unclear whether the Trump rallies were held in licensed venues, or whether any videos of the events were properly licensed.
You can watch the interview with Isaac Hayes III in the video above.
