Donald Trump was hit with yet another takedown notice for using unlicensed music, this time in his 2020 campaign video on Twitter to try and make his case for another term. USA Today reports that the video was pulled just hours after he posted it to his account, with Twitter citing: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
.@HansZimmer are you aware that Trump is using your composition from The Dark Knight as soundtrack for his hate-mongering presidential movie trailers? cc: @warnerbrosr https://t.co/5Vohm0iFKF
— dom nero (@dominicknero) April 9, 2019
The song in question turned out to be the taken from the score of the 2012 Warner Bros. film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” (the track is titled “Why Do We Fall”) used to dramatic effect in the video mock Trump’s political enemies and try to stir an emotional response from his supporters. It appeared to be taken from Reddit, per Buzzfeed, and featured dramatic title cards reading in sequence: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they call you racist.” These messages are intercut with video clips from Trump’s first term, including the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while the video concludes with the message: “Your vote proved them all wrong.” “Why Do We Fall” can be played via the official Youtube stream below:
Warner Bros. Pictures filed a copyright infringement complaint, resulting in the video being taken down, which also prompted Trump to delete the tweet containing it. This isn’t the first time Trump was hit with copyright infringement complaints; earlier this year, REM filed a complaint to remove another video that used part of their song “Everybody Hurts,” while Rihanna tweeted that she didn’t want him using “Don’t Stop The Music” during his rallies.
