Rihanna tells Trump to stop playing her music at his rallies

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Nov. 5, 2018 / 3:54 PM GMT / Updated 5:48 PM GMT

By Janelle Griffith

Please stop the music.

That’s the message Rihanna sent to President Donald Trump Sunday night after learning her 2007 single “Don’t Stop the Music” was played at one of his rallies.

After Washington Post reporter, Philip Rucker, on Sunday tweeted that Rihanna’s hit song was playing at a rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the singer replied: “Not for much longer.”

She also said: “me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies.”

Rucker said the song was played while aides tossed Trump T-shirts into the crowd, as is commonly done at baseball games. “Everyone’s loving it,” he said.

Rihanna’s warning to the president came hours after she endorsed Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor of Florida, in an Instagram post.

“Florida: You have the opportunity to make history this election,” Rihanna, 30, wrote on Instagram. “The US has only had four black governors in its entire history and we can help make #AndrewGillum the next one and Florida’s first.”

With her rebuke, Rihanna, who was born in Barbados, joins a growing list of artists who have asked that their music not be part of the soundtrack of Republican rallies. Last week, Pharrell Williams issued a cease-and-desist letter after Trump played his 2013 song “Happy” at a rally on the same day 11 people were killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

In August, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler sent Trump a cease-and-desist letter over use of the song “Livin’ on the Edge” at a political rally without permission.

“This is not about Dems vs. Repub.,” Tyler tweeted at the time. “I do not let anyone use my songs without my permission. My music is for causes, not for political campaigns or rallies. Protecting copyright and songwriters is what I’ve been fighting for even before this current administration took office.”

In 2015, the singer’s legal team warned the then-Republican presidential candidate over his use of “Dream On.”

Rihanna’s remarks came a day after Axl Rose, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration, accused his campaign of “using loopholes in the various venues’ blanket performance licenses which were not intended for such craven political purposes, without the songwriters’ consent.”

The Guns N’ Roses frontman also said the band had formally requested its music not be used at Trump rallies or “Trump associated events.”