Rihanna didn't seem too happy about her tune being used at a Make America Great Again rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which Donald Trump held to support Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn in the upcoming midterm elections.
The Barbadian-born songstress lashed out at Philip Rucker, the White House Bureau Chief for The Washington Post, after he said that Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" was played in Chattanooga.
She promised that this would be "not for much longer," thanking Rucker for the tip-off.
Not for much longer…me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies, so thanks for the heads up philip! https://t.co/dRgRi06GrJ
— Rihanna (@rihanna) 5 ноября 2018 г.
Rihanna's inflammatory tweet has sown dissent among her whopping 88.8-million-strong Twitter audience, with some suggesting that she should go easy.
Breaking my heart 💔 don’t be like everyone else. Be unique and humble.
— amengirl (@amengirl2) 5 ноября 2018 г.
Many don’t know how to be this way anymore. They make so much money off average, hard working, Americans and then when they become rich they turn their backs. Unfortunate. Our culture is so backwards that we idolize celebrities. Everything is backwards
— Vanessa Wanderlingh (@earlessvangogh2) 6 ноября 2018 г.
Neither me, nor my family, will ever be at one your tragic concerts.
— Patrick Thornton (@jsualumnus) 6 ноября 2018 г.
Still others contend that Rihanna doesn't own the copyright and thus the venue simply has to pay the usage fees to play her songs at a rally.
Rihanna doesn’t write her own songs, she does not own them. They have been published through either ASCAP or BMI. The venue pays a blanket music license.
— Witch Hazel (@whozawitch) 5 ноября 2018 г.
Oh, she doesn't license her music through ASCAP, SESAC or BMI?
— Chibi William Henry Harrison (@TobytheBeagle1) 5 ноября 2018 г.
If she doesn't, then they have to stop playing her songs, but if she does, there is a lot of sand she can go pound.
Um…doesnt the campaign or venue simply need an ASCAP or BMI license to replay music commercially and publically at venue? Highly likely this is all compliant..as they play music during all events at facility…
— Christopher Foltz (@ChrisFoltz) 5 ноября 2018 г.
Rihanna isn't the first American singer to publicly voice displeasure over a song being added to the playlist of Donald Trump-associated rallies. Hours before her tweet, Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses accused the Trump campaign of "using loopholes" in the licenses of different venues that host the rallies without his permission.
Unfortunately the Trump campaign is using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent.
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) 4 ноября 2018 г.
Can u say “shitbags?!”💩
Earlier, Trump, then on the stump, was asked not to use songs by Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, R.E.M., Neil Young, Adele, and Pharrell.
