Tom Petty’s Family Issues Cease & Desist After Trump Campaign Plays Song
Sorry to be so obvious and a bit cheesy, but the Petty family will not back down on this one.
The family of late singer Tom Petty, that includes his widow Dana York Petty a Flushing, Michigan native, is upset with President Donald Trump for using the hit song "I Won’t Back Down.” Seems the song was played at the president’s re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the weekend.
The family has now issued a cease & desist letter demanding the president no longer use “I Won’t Back Down”.The Petty family made the announcement on Twitter asking the Trump campaign to never use the rock star's music again.
In the announcement from the family that includes Dana, Petty's daughters, and former wife Jane, they indicated that it is not what the late singer would want saying, “Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind. Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate. He liked to bring people together.”
They go on to say the song was written with a powerful meaning behind it.“Tom wrote this song for the underdog, for the common man, for EVERYONE,” the family’s statement reads. His widow Dana said in a interview that it was always one of Tom's favorites to perform with The Heartbreakers, "Tommy never got tired of that one, because of the audience response. It's a song that touches everyone in their own way," she says. "You could see that they were all singing about their lives every night. And it's a pretty amazing thing to witness."
Tom Petty died of an accidental overdose in October 2017 at the age of 66.