Jack White sues Trump over the use of The White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army': 'This machine sues fascists'
- Jack White and The White Stripes have sued Donald Trump.
- White claims that Trump's campaign improperly used the duo's smash-hit "Seven Nation Army."
Jack White doesn't want to leave it alone regarding former President Donald Trump's use of one of his most famous songs.
On Monday, White and Meg White, the duo behind The White Stripes, sued Trump, his campaign, and one of his top campaign officials for using "Seven Nation Army" in a short video posted on X and other social media platforms.
"This machine sues fascists," White wrote on Instagram, screenshotting the top of his complaint, a play on Woody Guthrie's WWII-era message that he emblazoned on his guitar.
According to the suit filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, Trump's campaign posted footage of the former president boarding an airplane with "Seven Nation Army" playing in the background ahead of campaign rallies in the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
The White Stripes are the third music group or estate with open lawsuits against Trump, underlining how much artists want to distance themselves from the former president ahead of an extremely close presidential election. Arena licenses often cover Trump's pre-rally playlists, though artists can opt out of those playlists.
Some of his allies and campaign officials have begun to post short videos to social media with popular music in the background — a much more legally dicey ground.
"As a self-professed sophisticated and successful businessman with decades-long experience in the entertainment industry (not to mention being on the receiving end of numerous copyright claims by musical artists whose work he used without permission), Defendant Trump and the other Defendants, his agents, knew or should have known that the use of the 7NA Works in the Infringing Trump Videos was unauthorized, and, therefore, violated Plaintiffs' rights under the Copyright Act," the complaint reads.
Margo Martin, Trump's deputy communications chief, is named in the lawsuit.
Trump's lawyers are currently fighting a suit over Eddy Grant's 1983 hit "Electric Avenue." Last week, a federal judge ordered Trump's campaign to stop playing "Hold On, I'm Coming" as Issac Hayes' estate pursues legal action over what it claims was improper use of the song Hayes cowrote.
The White Stripes are pushing for Trump to be held liable for violating their copyright and for damages related to the improper use of the song. White's suit asks the court to use the discovery process to determine if the videos generated donations for Trump's campaign.
"Seven Nation Army" is one of The White Stripes' defining songs. It won Best Rock Song at the 2004 Grammy Awards. Decades later, it is still used at sporting events. The duo previously spoke out when Trump used the song in 2016.
Business Insider has reached out to lawyers representing Trump in two other copyright lawsuits in which he's been sued over music used by his campaign, one by "Electric Avenue" performer Eddy Grant and one by the estate of Isaac Hayes. The lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.