Singer Eddy Grant Sues Trump Campaign for Using ‘Electric Avenue’ in Twitter Post

Guyana born reggae singer Eddie Grant performs on the main stage at the T in the Park musi
ED Jones/AFP via Getty Images
Alana Mastrangelo

Singer Eddy Grant is suing President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign over the use of his song “Electric Avenue” in a recent video meme that the president posted to Twitter.

In the video, a train spelling out the acronym “KAG” — which stands for President Trump’s re-election campaign slogan, “Keep America Great” — can be seen quickly making its way across a railroad, before Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden can be seen trailing behind the KAG train on a small manually-operated handcar. The scene is all set to “Electric Avenue.”

Grant filed a lawsuit in New York on Tuesday after President Trump’s campaign used “Electric Avenue” in a video that the president posted to Twitter August 12, The Wrap reports.

Watch below:

“Despite Plaintiffs having sent Defendants a letter the very next day objecting to Defendants’ infringement and demanding the removal of the infringing video and that Defendants refrain from further infringing Plaintiffs’ copyrights, and despite numerous comments on Mr. Trump’s August 12, 2020 tweet linking to articles reporting on the infringement, Defendants have continued to willfully and wrongfully infringe Plaintiffs’ copyrights,” wrote lawyers for Grant in the complaint reviewed by The Wrap. “As of the date of this filing, the infringing video is still available on Twitter.”

Grant is not the only artist to have recently filed a lawsuit — or threatened legal action — over the president’s campaign’s usage of their songs.

Last month, left-wing rocker Neil Young filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s re-election campaign, alleging it violated copyright laws by lacking the right to play his songs at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In July, rock group Linkin Park forced the removal of a video retweeted by the president on Saturday, citing a copyright claim after it featured their 2000 song “In the End.”

In June, the estate of rocker Tom Petty took a swipe at President Trump over his campaign’s use of the late singer’s hit song “I Won’t Back Down” during a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.