Isaac Hayes’ Estate Files Cease And Desist Against Donald Trump For Unauthorized Song Use

Isaac Hayes’ estate is just the latest to take legal action against former president Donald Trump. Trump has a long history of playing licensed music without permission at his campaign rallies. Per the latest legal action taken against him, he’s played the Hayes-written track “Hold On, I’m Comin'” over 100 times between 2022 and 2024. An additional instance came as recently as August 9.

The legendary singer’s son, Isaac Hayes III, expressed deep criticism of the Trump campaign on his personal X/Twitter account . “Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly,” he wrote. Additionally, the official Isaac Hayes account posted the letter the estate sent to the Trump team. The letter demands payment and for the team to delete any videos using his version of “Hold On, I’m Comin’.”

This is far from the first time that people have asked the Trump campaign to stop using popular songs during events. Last week, Celine Dion requested that Trump stop using her hit single “My Heart Will Go On.” She also poked fun at the song choice. She also questioned why he didn’t go with a different song of hers to use improperly. Rihanna, Linkin Park, Aerosmith, and several other musical acts have issued cease and desist letters after becoming aware of the Trump campaign using their music in promotional material. Moreover, this is is not the first time a politician has gotten in trouble for using that song. Sam Moore, one half of the duo who first recorded the track, and then-candidate Barack Obama had a brief dispute over the track’s usage in 2008. They resolved it quickly.

The Isaac Hayes estate’s letter goes on to explain Trump paying $3 million for unauthorized plays of “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” is “a very discounted fee for the normal license fee associated with this many multiple uses.” They added that the normal fee for continued infringements will be 10 times as much if they choose to sue. Starting at $150,000 per use. A steep price to pay for a completely avoidable situation on the Trump team.