Panic! At The Disco Frontman Brendon Urie Demands Donald Trump 'Stop Playing My Song' at Rallies

Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie is demanding Donald Trump stop playing his band's music [...]

By Anna Rumer

Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie is demanding Donald Trump stop playing his band's music at his rallies, joining a list of artists who have requested their music not be played by the president's campaign. Urie took to Twitter Tuesday with a note for the Trump campaign after "High Hopes" was reportedly played during Trump's Tulsa rally, which was especially controversial due to its timing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Telling the campaign bluntly, "Stop playing my song," Urie added in a subsequent tweet, "Dear Everyone Else, Donald Trump represents nothing we stand for. The highest hope we have is voting this monster out in November," followed by a link to the HeadCount site encouraging voter registration.

Urie's request comes just days after the family of Tom Petty filed a cease-and-desist notice against the campaign after the Tulsa campaign also played the late rocker's song "I Won't Back Down." In a statement posted to Petty's Twitter account on Saturday, the family said the use of the song was "in no way authorized."

"Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind," the statement read. "Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate. He liked to bring people together." Petty's family said he wrote the song played at the rally "for the underdog, for the common man and for EVERYONE."

"We believe in America and we believe in democracy," the family said. "But Donald Trump is not representing the noble ideals of either. We would hate for fans that are marginalized by this administration to think we are complicit in this usage."

Benmont Tench III, a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, echoed that statement on Instagram, writing, "I in no way approve of Trump even whistling any piece of music associated with our band. I hope that's clear enough."

Earlier this year, R.E.M. announced they were pursuing "all legal avenues" to get Trump to stop playing "Everybody Hurts" and "Losing My Religion" at his campaign events. In 2015, lead singer Michael Stipe put out a strong statement after "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" was used at a Trump Tea Party rally, tweeting, "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."

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