“We do not condone the use of our music by this fraud and con man,” wrote Mike Mills, a member of the rock band
After Trump’s reelection campaign played two R.E.M. tunes, “Everybody Hurts” and “Losing My Religion” at a rally in Milwaukee Tuesday night. Mike Mills, a member of the now defunct rock band, announced the band is “exploring all legal avenues” to prevent Trump from using its music, The Hill reports.
“We are aware that the President* @realDonaldTrump continues to use our music at his rallies. We are exploring all legal avenues to prevent this, but if that’s not possible please know that we do not condone the use of our music by this fraud and con man,” Mills wrote on Twitter.
We are aware that the President* @realDonaldTrump continues to use our music at his rallies. We are exploring all legal avenues to prevent this, but if that’s not possible please know that we do not condone the use of our music by this fraud and con man.
— Sweet Daddy Cool ✌️🇺🇦 🌸⚾️🇨🇦 (@m_millsey) January 15, 2020
Mills and the band have railed against Trump’s use of R.E.M.’s music.
Last February, after being confronted by a lawyer for the Universal Music Publishing Group, Twitter pulled down a Trump video that played “Everybody Hurts” in a clip that mocked his Democrat rivals. The original clip was then taken down and replaced with a duplicate that used a Trump go-to favorite, Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American,” instead.
The band also spoke out in 2015, saying they did not “authorize or condone” Trump’s use of “It’s The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” a 1987 hit song by the band at a “Stop the Iran Deal” rally.
R.E.M. posted a joint statement to their Facebook page, despite the fact that they broke up in 2011. “While we do not authorize or condone the use of our music at this political event, and do ask that these candidates cease and desist from doing so, let us remember that there are things of greater importance at stake here,” the band said. “The media and the American voter should focus on the bigger picture, and not allow grandstanding politicians to distract us from the pressing issues of the day and of the current presidential campaign.”
“Personally, I think the Orange Clown will do anything for attention. I hate giving it to him,” Mills added on Twitter.
The band’s singer, Michael Stipe, also slammed Trump on the campaign trail, saying in a statement to The Daily Beast: “Go f— yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
R.E.M, joins the list of other music artists who have spoken out about Trump, 73, using their musical catalog politically, such as Rihanna, Queen and the Rolling Stones.