Brian May Denies Donald Trump’s Usage of ‘We Are The Champions’

Rollingstone.com — On Tuesday, after clinching the final round of Republican primaries, Donald Trump walked onstage for his victory speech to Queen’s triumphant anthem “We Are the Champions.” Queen guitarist Brian May has issued a stern statement denouncing the usage of the song.

“I’ve had an avalanche of complaints – some of which you can see in our ‘Letters’ page – about Donald Trump using our ‘We Are The Champions’ track as his ‘theme’ song on USA TV,” May wrote on his website. “This is not an official Queen statement, but I can confirm that permission to use the track was neither sought nor given. We are taking advice on what steps we can take to ensure this use does not continue. Regardless of our views on Mr. Trump’s platform, it has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool.”

In the aforementioned “Letters” section of his site, May responded to a fan message pointing out the usage. “We certainly have not approved this use of [‘We Are the Champions],” the musician responded. “I will make sure we take what steps we can to dissociate ourselves from Donald Trump’s unsavoury campaign.”

May isn’t the first musician to deny Trump access to their catalogs. In September, after the politician used R.E.M.’s hit “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” at a rally, singer Michael Stipe angrily responded, “Go fuck yourselves, the lot of you – you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry little men … Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”