London, March 4 (IANS) The estate of the late Irish singer-songwriter-social activist Sinead O’Connor has denounced the Republican Party’s presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s use of her performance of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ at his recent campaign rallies, reports ‘Variety’.
The single ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ was a part of her best-selling 1990 album ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’, which sold seven million copies worldwide. It was voted the No. 1 world single of the year at the Billboard Music Awards.
In a statement to ‘Variety’, O’Connor’s estate and label Chrysalis Records demanded that Trump cease playing the song immediately.
O’Connor, incidentally, passed away at the age of 56 on July 26, 2023, after converting to Islam in 2018. She was a lifelong critic of the Roman Catholic Church’s murky record of alleged child abuse.
Her estate’s statement, shared by ‘Variety’, reads: “Throughout her life, it is well known that Sinéad O’Connor lived by a fierce moral code defined by honesty, kindness, fairness and decency towards her fellow human beings.”
It goes on to say that the estate learned “with outrage” that Donald Trump “has been using her iconic performance of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ at his political rallies”.
The statement does not hold back punches when it says, “It is no exaggeration to say that Sinead would have been disgusted, hurt and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a ‘biblical devil’. As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately.”
O’Connor joins a long list of musicians who have spoken out against Trump using their music at rallies, including Johnny Marr of the Smiths, who in January took to X to express his disappointment over Trump playing ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’, ‘Variety’ notes.
The phalanx of other artistes who have refused Trump’s use of their songs include, according to ‘Variety’, Adele, Aerosmith, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Guns n’ Roses, Leonard Cohen, Linkin Park, Neil Young, Nickelback, Ozzy Osbourne, Panic! at the Disco, Pharrell Williams, Phil Collins, Prince, Queen, R.E.M., Rihanna, the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Village People and the White Stripes.
