Pharrell Williams tells Trump to cease & desist after Happy plays at Trump Rally

[iluvtennis]

Pharrell Williams tells president to cease and desist after 'Happy' plays at Trump rally on day of synagogue shooting

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pharrell-williams-trump-happy-20181029-story.html

An attorney for pop star Pharrell Williams on Monday sent a cease-and-desist letter to President Trump for playing Williams’ song “Happy” at a political rally on the same day as a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

“On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged ‘nationalist,’ you played his song ‘Happy’ to a crowd at a political event in Indiana,” attorney Howard E. King wrote. “There was nothing ‘happy’ about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”

Eleven people — ranging in age from 54 to 97 — were killed Saturday at the Tree of Life Synagogue, where three separate congregations were holding services.

The suspect, Robert Bowers, 46, of Pittsburgh is charged with 29 federal counts, including murder with a firearm and several hate crime charges.

Trump spoke that evening at a political rally at an airport hangar in Murphysboro, Ill.
“This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe and frankly something that is unimaginable. Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief,” Trump said at the event, where he called the shooting anti-Semitic.

Trump joked at the event that he considered canceling because he was having “a bad hair day.”

In his cease-and-desist letter, King, who is Williams’ Los Angeles-based attorney, wrote that the singer is the owner of the copyright to “Happy.”

“Pharrell has not, and will not, grant you permission to publicly perform or otherwise broadcast or disseminate any of his music,” King wrote. “The use of ‘Happy’ without permission constitutes copyright infringement.”

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. Toddler TrumPutin mocks laws

Toddler TrumPutin mocks people and laws. He should be held accountable.

[Neema]

2. I guess playing Cat Scratch Fever over and over at his rallies was getting boring.

Too bad nobody with talent will allow him the rights to use their music.

[True Dough]

10. It's true

This has happened over and over again with various artists. some of the demanding multiple times that Trump put a stop to it. But he's a buffoon.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Hope Pharrell Williams can get satisfaction with this, and block the use again by the evil Hump. n/t

[SunSeeker]

4. OMG, he played "Happy" on the day of the massacre??!!

[DRoseDARs]

5. To be fair, he *almost* cancelled that rally. Because of bad hair. nt

[gratuitous]

13. Why not? A mass shooting at a synagogue makes him happy, apparently

Trump keeps telling us and showing us who he is. I wish the media would believe it.

[Totally Tunsie]

6. Good. All artists should refuse him until

only Kanye's music is available to him.

[Raven123]

7. If I were them, I'd do so preemptively

Don't give him one opportunity

[Cha]

8. Thank You, Pharrel Williams. Tell Fuckhead to

play a Kanye piece at his Inflammatory Hatefests.. I'm sure that gaslit asshole won't mind.

[WePurrsevere]

9. Wait! WTH! The SAME day 11 people were MURDERED Trump played 'Happy' and...

JOKED about almost cancelling the rally because HE was having a friggin bad HAIR day... Not because 11 human beings were ruthlessly slaughtered in their place of WORSHIP by an anti-Semitic RW Cult45 buttwipe, but because he had a bad hair day... ... ...

Thank you, Pharrell for speaking out and taking action against Trump's incredibly inappropriate and illegal use of your song.

[Achilleaze]

11. Wow, the soul sickness of the republican draft-dodger is stunning

And Dirty Donny is the role model republicans chose for their children? Truly sad.

[fescuerescue]

12. It's tough with ascap licensing.

Most politicians have voluntarily stopped playing certain music when an artist requests it.

I'm thinking for example of Sarah Palin and the song Barracuda.

But it's a voluntary thing since most artist license their music via ASCAP and if the song is played under an ASCAP license at a rally (which is most of them), the politician can ignore the request.

Hopefully Trump does the proper thing and honors Pharrell request.

[Dr. Strange]

14. Interestingly, Williams doesn't use ASCAP or BMI.

And it looks like the venue doesn't have the license for Williams' song.

Link to tweet