
Prince’s estate has hit out at Trump for playing the late signer’s iconic Purple Rain at a rally on Oct. 10 in musician’s hometown of Minneapolis – even though last year the soon-to-be-impeached lawyers’ confirmed in writing that they would stop using his music.
It was played in the Target Center last night, where Trump was holding a campaign event, as a Twitter video posted by Vox journalist Aaron Rupar shows.
Just hours later, Prince’s estate posted a message on the late musician’s Twitter account,
“President Trump played Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music. The Prince Estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs.”

The musician’s estate also posted a redacted version of a letter Trump’s legal team at Jones Day had sent the Prince estate on October 15, 2018 after the song was played at a rally in Southaven, Mississippi.
“Without admitting liability, and to avoid any future dispute, we write to confirm that the Campaign will not use Prince’s music in connection with its activities going forward.”
Here’s Brad Parscale attributing some of the empty seats in the Target Center to how much “Minnesotans like to eat at the concessions stands.” pic.twitter.com/RPDBbjsuk8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 11, 2019
President Trump played Prince’s “Purple Rain” tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music. The Prince Estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs. pic.twitter.com/FuMUPzSWOe
— Prince (@prince) October 11, 2019
(Photos, screen grabs; via NME)