The Daily Beast87%
Iconic Singer’s Estate Warns Trump Never to Use His Song 58%
By William Vaillancourt0%
6/24/2026, 8:12:27 PM
Keywords: Donald J Trump, Leonard Cohen
BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Negativity Bias, and Quote-first Misdirection, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 50.5% saturation with 213 hits. Analysis detected 1,052 faulty-reasoning hits from 422 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 54.4% and a BS Rank of 58% (9,338 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 57.30% of the article peer group.
Leonard Cohen’s estate has objected to Donald Trump’s planned use of his song “Hallelujah” at the Freedom 250 rally in Washington.
Trump, 80, said weeks ago that singers Lee Greenwood and Christopher Macchio would take the stage at the Great American State Fair, with Macchio singing the 1984 single, among other tunes.
“The Leonard Cohen Estate has learned that the song ‘Hallelujah’ is to be performed at a Donald Trump rally on June 24,” says a Facebook post on Cohen’s account.
“This use is not authorized, and the Estate does not support or approve of this or any similar usage.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
The White House did not immediately respond when asked about the statement from Cohen’s estate.
The Canadian singer-songwriter died in November 2016 at age 82.
Several musicians, like Martina McBride, The Commodores, Young MC, and Bret Michaels, pulled out of the event upon learning of its political nature, leaving Greenwood, Macchio, Flo Rida, Vanilla Ice, and Alexis Wilkins, the 27-year-old girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, who insists she was invited “on my own accord.”
Trump, his campaigns, and his administration have a long history of using music from artists—or their estates—who want nothing to do with him.
In 2020, Tom Petty’s family issued a cease-and-desist order to the Trump campaign for playing “I Won’t Back Down” at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Trump was in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind,” they said in a statement then.
“Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind.
Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate.
He liked to bring people together.”
That same year, Neil Young objected to Trump playing “Keep On Rockin In The Free World” at a July 4th event at Mount Rushmore.
Last year, Sabrina Carpenter called out the administration for using one of her songs in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement video, writing, “This video is evil and disgusting.
Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
And earlier this month, Ariana Grande wrote on a White House TikTok on immigration: “Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense.“
She added: “F--- ICE.”
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