Estate of Beatle George Harrison ‘Offended’ by Song Use at RNC

The estate of late Beatle George Harrison took to Twitter Thursday to rail against the use of his music at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

“The unauthorized use of #HereComestheSun at the #RNCinCLE is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate,” the Harrison family tweeted.

Another tweet added: “If it had been Beware of Darkness, then we MAY have approved it! #TrumpYourself.”

The song, written by Harrison and released on the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road, was played over the loudspeakers at the Quicken Loans Arena Thursday night as Ivanka Trump, daughter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, made her way onstage to deliver a speech and introduce her father.

Harrison’s estate were not the only song rights holders to complain about their music being used during the Republican party’s biggest political event of the year.

Rocker Paul Rodgers also scolded the RNC over the use of his song “All Right Now,” originally performed by his band Free.

“Permission to use ‘All Right Now’ was never sought for or granted by me. My lawyer is dealing with this matter. – Paul,” the English singer tweeted earlier in the week.

Earlier in the week, British rock band Queen also complained about the use of the band’s 1977 hit “We Are the Champions” during a Trump convention appearance.

“An unauthorised use at the Republican Convention against our wishes – Queen,” the band tweeted on Tuesday.

Queen lead guitarist Brian May doubled down, writing on his website: “My personal reaction to Donald Trump using our music? We’d never give permission. We are taking advice on what steps we can take to ensure this use does not continue.”

May insisted that it has always been the band’s politics to never “allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool.”

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson

Jerome Hudson