Ketika White Stripes mengumumkan gugatan mereka terhadap Donald Trump minggu lalu, mereka menjadi band terbaru yang mengambil tindakan hukum terhadap mantan presiden karena penggunaan musik mereka tanpa izin.
“Mesin ini menuntut fasis,” Jack White, separuh dari duo yang bubar, menulis dalam keterangan Instagram, disertai gambar keluhan yang diajukan di Pengadilan Distrik AS untuk Distrik Selatan New York. Dalam gugatan itu, Jack dan Meg White menuduh bahwa calon presiden partai Republik melanggar hukum hak cipta federal dengan menggunakan lagu mereka “Seven Nation Army” dalam ajakan penggalangan dana yang diposting di media sosial.
The group joins a who’s who of music legends who say Trump’s policies are discordant with the music they create — from Beyoncé and Celine Dion to the Foo Fighters and Swedish pop legend ABBA.
“As far as I know, that may be a record,” attorney Jacqueline Charlesworth said of the sheer volume of complaints against Trump’s music selections.
The music suits are a different breed of litigation altogether from Trump’s more high-profile legal headaches, including the federal cases over his handling of classified documents and his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. While those cases are testing the limits of presidential immunity, the lawsuits brought by the musicians have opened a window into the complex legal landscape that politicians and their campaigns must navigate when using music — particularly when it comes to the issue of copyrighted material.