Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, has been mocked for singing her new song on TV after she claimed it was shadow-banned by music streaming platforms.
The former television producer and wife of Eric Trump released a cover of Tom Petty’s 1989 song “I Won’t Back Down” on 29 September, but has since claimed that her version is nearly impossible to find on streaming platforms despite being listed as 31 on the iTunes charts.
In an interview with Sky News Australia, Ms Trump did a rendition of her new song, singing: “You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won’t back down”, but she didn’t quite get the response she had hoped for.
The Late Show host Stephen Colbert was among those mocking her performance.
“Well I’ve never been to the gates of hell but now I’m pretty sure I know what they sound like,” he joked.
X/Twitter users also proved to be harsh judges of Ms Trump’s musical abilities. One person said: “Now would be the ideal time for Lara Trump to back down”.
“My ears have been violated,” another said.
A third person tweeted: “I can never un-hear this. It is fitting for Halloween as it’s one of the creepiest cringy things I’ve ever seen.” While another Twitter user begged: “Please don’t make us listen to more.”
Lara Trump is the daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump— (Newsmax)
It came after she told Fox News her song was allegedly shadow-banned for being “too political”. She claimed it is part of a wider trend of conservatives being “censored”.
Mr Colbert responded to Ms Trump’s claim, saying: ″Yes, too political, her singing has been legally designated as domestic terrorism.”
Ms Trump previously took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to vent her frustrations at music companies.
The former television producer called out Apple and posted screen recordings and screen grabs of the inability to find the song.
“Hey, Apple — where is my song??? Why doesn’t my song appear when you search ‘I Won’t Back Down’???,” she said.
Meanwhile, in a since-deleted post, Eric Trump wrote: “Apple appears to be viscously shadow banning [Lara’s] new song, which immediately upon release, was 31st on the iTunes charts. Lara’s name, when typed in full, is hardly viable and can only be found below “Fake News II.” The song itself is unsearchable.”
In an interview with Fox, Lara Trump discussed her allegations with host Sean Hannity. She said: “It’s really sad, because this is the kind of treatment that I think conservatives are used to. We’re used to being censored, we’re used to being shadow-banned.
“I already know my song was shadow-banned, so many people told me, on Apple Music, on Spotify, on Amazon Music. They wouldn’t put my song on the radio because it was too political.”
The Independent has contacted Apple, Amazon and Spotify for comment.
Ms Trump has received backlash for her claims, with one X user calling her “entitled”, while another said: “I agree politics sucks but her song sucked worse.”
However, some X users have jumped to the former television producer’s defence. One supporter said that the budding musician “is getting screwed just due to her name, she cut a song, popular and very good. But being a Trump she will be treated poorly by the same people taking her money.”
Ms Trump embarked on a music career earlier this year after she shared videos of herself playing the piano. She said she’s “not trying to be a professional singer,” but that she just wants to share her “love of music.”
It came after Donald Trump received a cease and desist letter from the family of the late Tom Petty after using his song “I Won’t Back Down” at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2020.
In a statement posted to the singer’s Twitter account shortly after the rally, his family said that the use of the song by Trump’s campaign 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.”
