Prince Estate Tells Trump to Stop Playing 'Purple Rain' at Rallies

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October 12, 2018

prince donald trump — Image via Getty
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Prince's estate has asked President Donald Trump to stop playing "Purple Rain" at his rallies.

Speaking on behalf of Prince's family, Omarr Baker shared a tweet that the family wishes the president would stop playing the Prince hit.

“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,” he wrote.

Prince was notoriously stingy with his own music. For most of his life, he only made his albums available to people willing to physically purchase them. Any footage of him or his songs would not live on the internet long, with Youtube videos quickly being pulled as soon as they were discovered. He famously kept his albums off of streaming services until he struck a deal with Tidal shortly after the streaming service launched.

Since his death, his family has been a bit more free with the material. His famous Paisley Park vault has been cracked open, with the estate combing through thousands of potential tracks to release. They signed a deal with Sony Music for 35 posthumous albums, unleashed his late-period work onto streaming services and released a gorgeous set of stripped-back piano tunes earlier this year.

Still, there'd be no point in having an estate if they didn't put in some work to protect the name and work of their late family member. They recently sued a bootleg label that was releasing Prince music and felt compelled to speak out on this issue, lest anyone start conflating Donald Trump's use of the song as a blessing from the late singer.