Judge Rules Trump to Stop Playing 'Hold On, I'm Coming' Song at His Campaign Rallies

A Federal Judge in Atlanta has ruled that Donald Trump should not play Hold On, I'm Coming after one of the family of the co-writers of the song filed a lawsuit. The former President's campaign has been ordered to stop playing it from now onwards for political rallies. According to HuffPost, the estate of Isaac Hayes Jr. filed it last month alleging copyright issues. 

The emergency preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash denied the request to force Trump's campaign to take down the existing content with song. However, in favor of the artist and the copyright infringement observed by the jury, the campaign has been ordered to not use it in the future. According to CNN, the judge said, "I do order Trump and his campaign to not use the song without proper license." Hayes, who died at the age of 65 in 2008 and David Porter wrote the 1966 hit track together for the famous singers Sam Moore and Dave Prater Jr. The Trump campaign attorney Ronald Coleman shared that the Republican campaign has already stopped using the song. "We're very gratified that the court recognized the First Amendment issues at stake and didn't order a takedown of existing videos," Coleman told CBS News. Meanwhile, Hayes' son Isaac Hayes III expressed his relief at the decision made. 

"I want this to serve as an opportunity for other artists to come forward that don't want their music used by Donald Trump or other political entities and continue to fight for music artists' rights and copyright," he said. The lawsuit mentioned how the ex-POTUS' campaign for the upcoming presidential election used the song at least 133 times since 2020. The track which was used as "outro" music for the Republican frontrunner's appearance had earned the businessman-turned-politician's campaign a cease and desist letter back in 2020. Universal Music Group and Warner Chappell Music sent the letter jointly. 

Hayes III also disclosed in an interview, "I don’t want that song associated with Donald Trump. I don’t want people to hear ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ and think of Donald Trump because of the nature and the character of the person that he is," as to why the family filed the lawsuit. He had recently tweeted on X (formerly known as Twitter), "Once again, the estate and family of @isaachayes DID NOT approve the use of “Hold on I’m coming’” written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter by Donald Trump tonight in Atlanta. We and our partners at @primarywave are taking legal action to stop the unauthorized use of this song. Donald Trump represents the worst in honesty, integrity, and class and wants no association with his campaign of hate and racism." 

Amid all the chaos, recently several music artists have backed off from indirect support to Trump and even asked the campaign to refrain from using their content. The singing celebs include Celine Dion, ABBA, Sinéad O’Connor’s estate, Beyoncé and the Foo Fighters.