Beyoncé sends Trump team cease-and-desist for ‘Freedom’ video

Beyoncé has reportedly threatened Donald Trump‘s campaign with legal action for its unauthorised use of her song ‘Freedom’ in a social media video.

• READ MORE: Beyoncé – ‘Cowboy Carter’ review: country reinvention strikes gold 

According to a Rolling Stone report, with additional corroboration from Billboard, the ‘Love On Top’ singer’s record label and publisher issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Trump campaign after the former President’s spokesperson Steven Cheung posted a now-deleted video on X (formerly Twitter) of Trump stepping off an airplane with ‘Freedom’ playing the the background.

Cheung’s post has been deleted following the cease-and-desist. The letter comes after Beyoncé reportedly personally approved for current United States Vice President Kamala Harris‘ use of ‘Freedom’ as the official anthem for her presidential campaign.

Harris walked out to the song in July when she made her first public appearance since President Joe Biden announced that he would be dropping out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsing Harris to run in his place as the Democratic nominee.

She later shared her first presidential election campaign video, soundtracked by ‘Freedom’. In the clip, Harris poses the question: “What kind of country do we want to live in?” She then goes on to say: “We choose freedom.”

While Beyoncé has not publicly endorsed Harris for President, her approval of ‘Freedom’ as Harris’ campaign anthem suggests that she will vote in Harris’ favour.

As for her music career, since the start of 2024, Beyoncé has made countless headlines for the huge success of her country-inspired album ‘Cowboy Carter’.

Shortly after it arrived, it hit countless milestones, including making Beyoncé the first Black woman to reach Number One on the US country chart with ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’, the first Black woman to score a Number One country album in the US charts, and gathering support from huge names including Michelle Obama and Paul McCartney.

The star shared a remix of ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ too, and revealed that she kept much of the original backing track from the original 1968 version of ‘Blackbird’ in her cover. She also confirmed that Stevie Wonder played harmonica on ‘Jolene’, and RAYE was credited as a co-writer on one ‘Cowboy Carter’ song.

More recently, the ‘Single Ladies’ singer has openly shown her support of renowned US gymnast Simone Biles amid the 2024 Paris Olympics – recording a promotional video for NBC Sports, hailing her as both “inspiring” and “brilliant”.