Pharrell Williams wants President Donald Trump to stop using his song, “Happy” and the singer’s lawyer has sent a cease-and-desist letter as a result.
Williams took issue with Trump blaring the song from the “Despicable Me 2” track at a MAGA rally in Murphysboro, Ill., Saturday, Oct. 27. It came just hours after Robert Bowers opened fire in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 people and injuring six others, CBS News reported.
“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,” the performer’s attorney Howard E. King said in a letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times Monday, Oct. 29. “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.”
Additionally, King said Trump will not have permission to use any of Williams’ songs, which include tracks like “Come Get It Bae” and the Rihanna-assisted “Lemon.”
“Pharrell has not, and will not, grant you permission to publicly perform or otherwise broadcast or disseminate any of his music,” the letter read. “The use of ‘Happy’ without permission constitutes copyright infringement.”
For his part, Trump acknowledged the tragedy on Saturday, with Financial Express reporting the president deemed the shooting anti-Semitic.
“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.
Meanwhile, Bowers, who began shooting as three different services were taking place at the synagogue earlier that day, has been charged with 29 counts — several of them hate crimes — and including murder with a firearm.
