Musician John Fogerty lashed out at President Trump today and said he is issuing a cease and desist order over the president’s campaign using the famous Creedence Clearwarer Revival song “Fortunate Son” at events.
“I object to the President using my song, ‘Fortunate Son’ in any way for his campaign. He is using my words and my voice to portray a message that I do not endorse,” the rock icon shared in a statement on Twitter.
“Therefore, I am issuing a ‘cease and desist’ order. I wrote this song because, as a veteran, I was disgusted that some people were allowed to be excluded from serving our country because they had access to political and financial privilege. I also wrote about wealthy people not paying their fair share of taxes.”
Fogerty added that “Mr. Trump is a prime example of both of these issues. The fact that Mr. Trump also fans the flames of hatred, racism and fear while rewriting recent history, is even more reason to be troubled by his use of my song.”
— John Fogerty (@John_Fogerty) October 16, 2020
Trump’s reelection campaign regularly plays “Fortunate Son” before rallies and events.
Trump received four student draft deferments while he was an undergraduate student. In the spring of 1968, he also received a 1-Y medical deferment following a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels.
Trump also paid no income taxes for 10 of the 15 years before he was elected president, and $750 a year in 2016 and 2017.
Fogerty has previously weighed in on Trump using the hit song before campaign events.
Last month, he made a video explaining the classic song, sharing that “I find it confusing, I would say, that the president has chosen to use my song for his political rallies, when in fact it seems like he is probably the fortunate son.”
A slate of famous musicians and the estates of late musicians have called for Trump not to use their work at campaign rallies, including Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, the estate of Prince and others.