Federal Judge A Pennsylvania appeals court has granted an emergency hearing to the family of Isaac Hayes in their $3 million lawsuit against Donald Trump, who repeatedly used the song “Hold On, I’m Coming,” which Hayes co-wrote, during his campaign.
Earlier this month, the Hayes family filed a $3 million lawsuit over Trump’s unauthorized use of the classic “Sam & Dave,” which, according to the estate’s attorneys, has been played “over a hundred times” at Trump rallies since 2022.
In a tweet on August 10, the singer's son Isaac Hayes III wrote: “Today, on the anniversary of my father Isaac Hayes' passing, we have repeatedly asked Donald Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use the song 'Hold on I'm Coming' by Isaac Hayes and David Porter during campaign rallies, but once again, in Montana they did.”
“Donald Trump represents the worst of integrity and class with his disrespect, sexual abuse of women and racist rhetoric,” Hayes III added, warning, “We will now deal with this matter very quickly.”
The estate and their attorney James Walker weren’t kidding when they said “very quickly,” as they were able to file the documents with the Trump campaign’s Delaware office, setting the wheels in motion for an emergency preliminary hearing in an Atlanta courthouse just after Labor Day.
“The Federal Court has granted our request for an emergency hearing to secure judicial relief,” Hayes III wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee, Trump, the Trump 2024 Campaign, Tipping Point, and the National Rifle Association are due to appear in court on September 3, 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Atlanta.”
Trump has made the unauthorized use of popular music a hallmark of his political career. Just this month, Celine Dion asked him to stop playing her song “My Heart Will Go On.” He has received similar complaints in the past for using songs by Tom Petty, Rihanna, the Rolling Stones, the Village People, John Fogerty, Aerosmith, Linkin Park and Journey, and he recently added the Foo Fighters and Beyoncé to his favorites list last week.
The Hayes estate’s letter also explained that when they order Trump to pay $3 million for all these unauthorized plays, it is actually “a very substantial discount to the normal licensing fees associated with this large number of multiple uses. The normal fees for these violations would be 10 times that if we were to sue, starting at $150,000 per use.”
Trump had until August 16 to respond to the letter; when that deadline passed, the estate turned the letter into a legal matter, setting up an emergency hearing on September 3.
