Idiot Trump Earns Himself More Legal Trouble—This Time From Beyoncé

Donald Trump removed a campaign video using Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” on Wednesday after the international superstar threatened to send him a cease and desist letter, officially blocking the Republican presidential nominee’s use of the song.

A source close to Beyoncé told Rolling Stone that the Trump campaign did not have permission to use the song, which has since become an unofficial anthem of the Harris-Walz campaign. The offending clip was posted to Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung’s account, and set the Lemonade single to a 13-second video of Trump stepping off a plane in Michigan.

Beyonce isn’t the only artist who’s torched Trump for using their music without permission to advance his campaign. Sinéad O’Connor, The Beatles, Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Leonard Cohen, Queen, Prince, Pharrell, The Rolling Stones, The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Rihanna, Neil Young, Linkin Park, the late Tom Petty, the Village People, and Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler have all barred the former president from using their work.

And the trend seems to be growing. Just last week, two more musicians yanked their rights away from Trump: Isaac Hayes and Celine Dion.

Meanwhile, the DNC turned their roll call—a typically grueling snooze-fest—into an all-out party by merging the state-by-state delegate count with meaningful songs, hand-selected by each state. That included tracks by some of the artists who’ve banned their music from Trump’s events (such as Tom Petty) and even featured a wildly unexpected guest performance by Atlanta-born rapper Lil Jon, who got the entire arena bouncing to “Turn Down for What.”

“V-P Harris, Governor Walz!” Lil Jon shouted to the chorus of “Get Low.”

the european mind cannot comprehend lil jon doing georgia's roll call pic.twitter.com/Zm5oSTk2UT

— Colin (@ufcolin) August 21, 2024

Tim Walz walked off stage after his speech Wednesday night to Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Young reportedly personally approved use of the song.

And that’s just part of it. The entire liberal convention has been awash in talent. So far, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sheila E, and Maren Morris have brought some of their biggest hits to the mainstage, alongside comedians Kenan Thompson and Mindy Kaling. What might frustrate Trump most of all, however, is a surprise guest appearance rumored for Thursday: Beyoncé, in the flesh.

Check out the rest of the party’s roll track playlist here.