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After Donald Trump Played Pharrell's 'Happy' at a Rally the Night of the Pittsburgh Shooting, Pharrell Just Hit Trump With a Savage Cease and Desist Letter
Well said.
Singer Pharrell Williams has sent President Donald Trump a cease and desist letter demanding the president stop playing any of Williams' songs at campaign rallies.
Williams' attorney Howard King wrote the cease and desist request which was obtained by the Los Angeles Times on Monday.
The letter came after Williams' "Happy" from Despicable Me 2 was played at a MAGA rally in Murphysboro, Illinois on Saturday just hours after a gunman massacred 11 Jews at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
King wrote to Trump:
“On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged ‘nationalist,’ you played his song ‘Happy’ to a crowd at a political event in Indiana. There was nothing ‘happy’ about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”
King added that Williams owns the copyright to "Happy" and use of it by Trump amounts to copyright infringement.
"Pharrell has not, and will not, grant you permission to publicly perform or otherwise broadcast or disseminate any of his music. The use of 'Happy' without permission constitutes copyright infringement."
Twitter's reaction? "Good."
@NBCNews Excellent!!!! Nice job Pharrell!!! Keep on him!— Mary Alice Gordon (@Mary Alice Gordon) 1540901807.0
@NBCNews He won't be happy ! @Pharrell— James Robert Mahan (@James Robert Mahan) 1540902237.0
@NBCNews @LEX18News Someone's not happy— Prince (@Prince) 1540900850.0
@NBCNews @AngryLibSnowfl1 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾— Ms. Patsy (@Ms. Patsy) 1540903412.0
@NBCNews 🙌🏼 Love it 🙌🏼— Ames (@Ames) 1540904841.0
@NBCNews I wouldn't want him playing any song of mine.— Daniel Heins (@Daniel Heins) 1540903983.0
@NBCNews Blah. #Happy— Morning Joe (@Morning Joe) 1540899952.0
"There was nothing 'happy' about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted f… https://t.co/VzgrzDIU5R— Karine Jean-Pierre (@Karine Jean-Pierre) 1540894507.0
@NBCNews At a rally THE DAY OF THE MURDER OF 11 AMERICANS. There, fixed it for you.— Dr. Genevieve Guenther (@Dr. Genevieve Guenther) 1540903450.0
There was nothing "happy" about Saturday, but Trump, true to form, decided to make two campaign stops following the largest killing of American Jews in our country's history.
@NBCNews Especially since the only ones "happy" are trump, as he makes millions every day and divides the country e… https://t.co/A2PAjSnLDM— NitroX (@NitroX) 1540900223.0
It's all about Trump.
Some are left wondering how anyone can still defend Trump considering his glibness following such tragedy.
Trump and his cult leaders played ‘Happy’ at a cult rally hours after the Pittsburgh mass murder (Pharrell is suing… https://t.co/wzWAcirR6O— P h @ u l k n e r (Phisk Huvud) (@P h @ u l k n e r (Phisk Huvud)) 1540907343.0
Fight them where ever you find them, use what ever you have. Stand up. #Repost @shaunking ・・・ Proud of @pharrell.… https://t.co/Q1Y09tUg4M— frombackthen (@frombackthen) 1540907328.0
@latimes Trump is tone deaf to people’s tradigies as usual.— Barbara Freeman (@Barbara Freeman) 1540868086.0
@latimes Come on - playing it the same day as the Pittsburgh mass shooting??!?! Whats wrong with this guy?— Emilia Korhonen (@Emilia Korhonen) 1540868528.0
"This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe and frankly something that is unimaginable," the president said in Murphysboro. "Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief."
Prior to the rally in Illinois, Trump gave a speech at the Future Farmers of America in Indianapolis, where he explained how he almost didn't show up because his hair got wet.
During his speech, Trump joked that he almost canceled the rally because it had been raining in Washington D.C., which had messed up his hair.
“By the way, somebody just said your hair looks different today,” Trump said in Indianapolis. "I was standing under the wing of Air Force One doing a news conference earlier this morning, a very unfortunate news conference, and the wind was blowing and the rain and I was soaking wet and that's what I ended up with today."
“And I said but at least you know it's mine," the president said, adding that he asked himself if he should “cancel this arrangement because I have a bad hair day."
“The bad news,” Trump said to laughs peppered throughout the audience, “somebody said, ‘actually it looks better than it usually does.'”
Watch below:
Here's the video. Trump jokes that he considered canceling his speech to FFA because his hair got wet while talking… https://t.co/uukO4qNgwN— Kyle Griffin (@Kyle Griffin) 1540673422.0
Trump eventually condemned antisemitism and other forms of prejudice.
"This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe and frankly something that is unimaginable," Trump said. "Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief."