The estate of soul musician and actor Isaac Hayes has sent a cease-and-desist order to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over unauthorized use of the artist’s hit song “Hold On (I’m Coming).”
The letter, which was published on social media by former CNN contributor Roland Martin, calls on Trump’s campaign to pay $3 million, remove any videos of Trump rallies or other campaign media using the song and release a statement noting that Hayes’ estate and family have not authorized the campaign to use the artist’s music.
Hayes’ attorneys note in the letter that the $3 million requested by the estate is “a very discounted fee” from the usual rate of $150,000 per use of the song, which based on the number of times “Hold On” has been used by the campaign, would lead to a total that “will be 10 times as much if we litigate.”
The attorneys also warn that they will file a lawsuit against Trump’s campaign if they do not hear a response by Aug. 16.
The letter comes a day after Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, called out the Trump campaign on social media for using his father’s song at rallies in Atlanta last week and in Bozeman, Montana this weekend, vowing to take legal action.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
TheWrap has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
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