Jack White has filed a legal case against Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump accusing the former US president of “flagrant misappropriation” of The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army.
In an Instagram post captioned “This machine sues fascists”, a reference to the famous slogan that folk music legend Woody Guthrie put on his guitar in the 1940s, White displayed the opening page of the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York. The first point in the introduction to the suit states that The White Stripes are seeking “redress” for Trump's unauthorised use of the song.
The suit was filed in response to Trump's Deputy Director of Communications Margo Martin posting a video on X on August 29 showing the presidential candidate boarding a plane, with the White Stripes classic soundtracking the short clip.
Having been made aware of this, Jack White posted on Instagram: “Oh….Don’t even think about using my music you fascists. Lawsuit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your 5 thousand others.)”
Margo Martin is also named as a defendant in the legal action, which alleges that the Trump campaign did not seek or obtain permission from the band to use the song, and did not respond to pre-litigation efforts to resolve the matter.
White's Instagram post has received support from a number of other musicians, including Garbage, The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, Cat Power, Joe Satriani, Jason Isbell and more. Garbage's comment beneath White's post reads “My hero”, while Cat Power posted “I LOVE YOU SO MUCH”.
