United States: On Monday, the former president, Donald Trump, faced his audience in a town hall Q&A, which became a music-listening session in which Trump swayed to songs for more than half an hour on some of his favorite songs.
The hymns comprised Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” as presented by the vocalist Rufus Wainwright in the picture “Shrek.”
Now, the singer Wainwright and Cohen’s estate have an issue with Trump using that song; the singer commented on social media that “witnessing Trump and his supporters commune with this music last night was the height of blasphemy.”
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Wainwright added that a publishing company for Cohen’s estate has issued a cease and desist letter to the Trump campaign.
Cohen passed away in 2016, aged 82, and the song, which he first released in 1984, has since been recorded by several artists, including Wainwright and the late Buckley, CBS News reported.
The Trump campaign, as well as spokespersons for Wainwright and Cohen’s estate, also did not address comments from this article at the time of this publication.
The row over “Hallelujah” indicates yet another squabble between musicians and the Trump campaign, which has been under pressure mainly to cease playing music that belongs to artists such as Celine Dion and Queen.
Certain of the artists stated that they prefer not to like their music associated with any form of political event, while others have been more specific in associating their music with Trump, like Wainwright.
As Wainwright mentioned on Wednesday, “The song ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonard Cohen has become an anthem dedicated to peace, love, and acceptance of the truth.”
He stated this and also said that he was “mortified” that the song was played at the Trump event, but the good in him hopes that perhaps in inhabiting and really listening to the lyrics of Cohen’s masterpiece, Donald Trump just might experience a hint of remorse over what he has caused.
Wainwright also said that he voted in the presidential election for the current vice president, Kamala Harris, CBS News reported.
Trump also played several other recordings at the town hall event in Oaks, Pennsylvania, which is about 20 miles outside Philadelphia, when two attendees fainted.
In that case, the songs included “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” by James Brown, “An American Trilogy” by Elvis Presley, and “Nothing Compares 2 U” by the late Sinead O’Connor.