When Rock Band Linkin Park Sent Donald Trump a Cease and Desist Letter for Copyright Violation

In 2020, following through on a campaign video with music protected by copyright, former President Donald Trump defied social media conventions. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the Republican leader's team used one of the hit tracks from the famed band Linkin Park's album for a campaign ad.

X removed the music video that featured the 2002 popular song In the End after receiving several copyright complaints. The re-election campaign ad was initially published by White House social media director Dan Scavino, and Trump later retweeted it.  

Scavino's original post now reads: "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner." As per People, the rock band immediately issued a cease and desist letter to Trump's team for the violation. The band's official X page tweeted: "Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump, nor authorize his organization to use any of our music. A cease and desist has been issued."

Linkin Park's managing firm, Machine Shop Entertainment, sent a legal notice to X back then to take action against the video, according to Lumen's records of takedowns under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Band member Jung Youth later thanked the band's fans for supporting them: "Earlier today I found out that Trump illegally used a cover song that I am part of in a propaganda video which he tweeted...anyone who knows me knows I stand firmly against bigotry and racism. Much love to everyone in the Twitter community who helped get the video taken down fr!!," he wrote on X. 

Tommee Profitt's rendition of In the End, which featured Jung Youth and Fleurie, was purportedly included in the campaign footage. Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park, was a strong opponent of Trump before taking his own life in 2017. Bennington had tweeted, “I repeat… Trump is a greater threat to the USA than terrorism!! We have to take back our voices and stand for what we believe in.” 

As per Variety, artists have repeatedly objected to Trump and his campaign, requesting that he cease utilizing their songs in his advertisements and during political rallies. The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Pharrell Williams, R.E.M., Aerosmith, Adele, the Village People, and Tom Petty's family are among them. Panic! at the Disco is another.

X (Twitter) users expressed their disapproval of Trump's 2020 campaign's usage of the song whose chorus reads, "I tried so hard / And got so far / But in the end / It doesn't even matter." As per The Verge, Trump reacted to the various pulldowns of his campaign videos by X and called the move “illegal,” in a tweet, but the thenTwitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded: “Not true and not illegal. This was pulled because we got a DMCA complaint from the copyright holder.”