Foo Fighters donate song royalties to Harris campaign after Trump uses track without permission
Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” royalties will now go to Kamala Harris’ campaign. (Getty)
Foo Fighters have said they will be donating the royalties from “My Hero” to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign after Donald Trump used the track without the rock band’s permission.
History always seems to repeat itself, doesn’t it? Earlier this week, Beyoncé threatened the Republican presidential nominee with a cease-and-desist order after he used one of her songs in an election campaign video, while rock band Queen forced the politician to stop using their track “We Will Rock You” during the 2019 US election campaign.
Now, a spokesperson for “The Pretender” hitmakers has confirmed that they would be donating the royalties from the track, which Trump used at a recent rally without permission, to the Harris Waltz campaign.
“Foo Fighters were not asked permission and if they were, they would have not granted it,” a representative for the band told PEOPLE Magazine in a 26 August statement.
They added that frontman Dave Grohl and band members Pat Smear, Josh Freese, Chris Shiftlett, Nate Mandel and Rami Jafree would donate any royalties from streams or purchases of the track to the Democratic campaign.
Trump played the Foo Fighters’ song on 25 August upon welcoming former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on stage at an Arizona rally. It came after Kennedy had ceased his campaign, and instead endorsed the former president.
One X (formerly Twitter) addressed the music incident, asking the band online: “Hey @foofighters, did you let Trump use ‘My Hero’?” To this, they simply responded, “No.”
They reshared the interaction on the platform, writing: “Let us be clear.”
Just last week, the former president shared AI-generated images in a bid to imply that he had support from the majority of Taylor Swift fans, despite not having their support.
In 2021, Swift said Trump’s presidency forced her “to lean in and educate” herself about politics. A year earlier she backed Joe Biden – not Trump – for president.
Before that, she wrote an open letter rejecting Trump’s beliefs and urging the Republican senator in her home state of Tennessee to support the Equality Act, which sought to incorporate protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination into the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act.
