(Reuters) – The members of Swedish pop group ABBA have asked U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to stop using their music and videos at his campaign rallies, the band’s record label said on Thursday.
ABBA hits including “The Winner Takes It All”, “Money, Money, Money” and “Dancing Queen” were played at a rally held by Trump and his running mate JD Vance on July 27 in Minnesota, accompanied by videos, said Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, which had a reporter at the event.
“Together with the members of ABBA, we have discovered that videos have been released where ABBA’s music has been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately removed and taken down,” the band’s record label Universal Music said in a statement.
It said no permission or licence had been granted to the Trump campaign.
The members of the band declined to comment further, a representative told Reuters, adding that they fully supported Universal’s statement.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Several artists, or their representatives, have objected to their music being played at Trump events over the years, including late American singer-guitarist Tom Petty, British singer-songwriter Adele, and rock band R.E.M.
In April, late Irish singer and activist Sinéad O’Connor’s label also demanded the Trump campaign stop using her music.
Canadian singer Celine Dion and her label earlier this month made a similar complaint, calling the use of her performance “unauthorized”.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Helen Popper)
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