Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose recently got into a feud with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and now he’s blasting Donald Trump with a new t-shirt that reads “Live N’ Let Die With COVID 45.” The shirt was unveiled on the band’s Instagram page, and features the verbiage in the bands classic yellow and red font.
On May 6, Rose ignited a feud with Mnuchin after tweeting, “It’s official! Whatever anyone may have previously thought of Steve Mnuchin he’s officially an aโhole.” Mnuchin replied to him, asking, “What have you done for the country lately?” Inexplicably, he also included an emoji for the Liberian flag. Rose hit back, tweeting to Mnuchin, “My bad I didn’t get we’re hoping 2 emulate Liberia’s economic model but on the real unlike this admin I’m not responsible for 70k+ deaths n’ unlike u I don’t hold a fed gov position of responsibility 2 the American people n’ go on TV tellin them 2 travel the US during a pandemic.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Live N’ Let Die…https://t.co/RvvMnTyJxt pic.twitter.com/wdgzra3S5h
โ Guns N’ Roses (@gunsnroses) May 13, 2020
It is unclear what prompted the feud, but it is widely speculated that it was due to Guns N’ Roses version of Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” being played while President Trump was making a public appearance in Arizona earlier this month. Notably, the band is using the “Live N’ Let Die With COVID 45” shirt as a charity opportunity. The purchase page for the shirt details that “100% OF NET PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO MUSICARES.”
Founded by the Recording Academy, “MusiCares provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need. MusiCares’ services and resources cover a wide range of financial, medical and personal emergencies, and each case is treated with integrity and confidentiality. MusiCares also focuses the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues that directly influence the health and welfare of the music community.”
This is not the first time that Rose has taken on the Trump administration, as he previously aired grievances to The Wrap over the president using a Guns N’ Roses song without permission. “Just so ya knowโฆ GNR like a lot of artists opposed to the unauthorized use of their music at political events has formally requested [our] music not [be] used at Trump rallies or Trump associated events,” he tweeted at the time. “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. Personally I kinda liked the irony of Trump supporters listening to a bunch of anti-Trump music at his rallies but I don’t imagine a lot of ’em really get that or care.”