Detroit rocker Jack White is taking his battle with Donald Trump to the courtroom, making good on his pledge to pursue legal action against the Trump campaign after it used a clip of White’s hit “Seven Nation Army” in a social media post.
White and his former White Stripes bandmate Meg White are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
White posted a copy of the first page of the lawsuit on Instagram and wrote, “This machine sues fascists,” a nod to Woody Guthrie’s famous slogan “This machine kills fascists.”
The Whites are seeking a jury trial in the Southern District of New York.
They are suing Trump; the campaign organization Trump for President 2024, Inc.; and the campaign’s deputy director of communications Margo Martin for the unauthorized use of the White Stripes’ iconic song “Seven Nation Army.”
The legal dispute arises from a video posted by Martin on social media last month, which featured Trump embarking on trips to Michigan and Wisconsin, set to the tune of “Seven Nation Army.”
In response to the video, White took to Instagram, calling Trump a “scum” and his team “fascists.”
At the time, White pledged to sue Trump “to add to your 5 thousand others.”
“Oh….Don’t even think about using my music you fascists,” White wrote on Instagram. “Law suit coming from my lawyers about this.”
White’s criticism follows a demand from the Swedish band Abba earlier this week for Trump to stop using their music, following the unauthorized use of their songs and video footage at a campaign event.
Other prominent artists who have objected to Trump or his team using their work include Céline Dion, Beyoncé, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, the family of the late soul legend Isaac Hayes, and the estate of the late Irish pop star Sinéad O’Connor.
White also blasted Trump over a recent controversy during his visit earlier this week to a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. According to an Army spokesperson on Thursday, an employee attempting to enforce rules against political activities on cemetery grounds was pushed aside in an altercation reportedly involving two members of Trump’s campaign staff.
“And as long as I’m here, a double fuck you DonOLD for insulting our nation’s veterans at Arlington you scum,” White wrote. “You should lose every military family’s vote immediately from that if ANYTHING makes sense anymore.”
In November, White removed his record label, Third Man Records, from what was then called Twitter after the company’s new CEO and right-wing polemicist Elon Musk restored Trump’s account.
“So you gave trump his twitter platform back. Absolutely disgusting, Elon,” White wrote. “That is officially an asshole move.”
In October 2019, White performed to a crowd of more than 5,000 Bernie Sanders supporters at his alma mater, Cass Technical High School in Detroit.
