Members of Prince’s estate tell Trump to stop playing his music at rallies

Members of Prince’s estate told President Trump and the White House to stop playing music by the late singer at the president’s campaign-style rallies, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Friday.

Jeremiah Freed, a longtime associate of Prince, tweeted a message from the estate, saying: “The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or The White House to use Prince’s songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately.”

2 whomever it may concern:

“The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or The White House to use Prince’s songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately.”

— drfunkenberry (@drfunkenberry) October 12, 2018

The message from Freed, also known as Dr. Funkenberry, was retweeted by Prince’s brother, Omarr Baker.

“The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or The White House to use Prince’s songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately.”

— Omarr Baker (@PRNFamily) October 12, 2018

The Star Tribune said the request appears to have been made in response to video footage of audience members attending Trump’s rally in Mississippi last week, waving their hands to Prince’s song “Purple Rain.”

{mosads}Though Prince was not a protest singer-songwriter like fellow Minnesotan Bob Dylan, he did not shy away from politics. He also had a reputation for shutting down the unauthorized use of his music, the Star Tribune noted.

A number of other musical artists have requested that their songs no longer be played at public events, including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Twisted Sister and Elton John.