Marshall B. Mathers, III, a.k.a. Eminem, doesn’t want Republican presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to rap his legendary hit song any more. The highly offended rapper sent a cease and desist letter to Vivek telling him to knock it off on the campaign trail.

It is a tale as old as time in political campaigns. Republicans try to use music during campaign events and the entertainers, usually all Democrats, shut it down. Delicate creatures, those show biz types. Eminem is a big ole supporter of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Vivek burst into “Lose Yourself” during an event with Governor Kim Reynolds at the Iowa State Fair. She asked him what his favorite walkout song was and he answered “Lose Yourself.” The sound tech guy started blasting the tune and Vivek delivered a performance. Reynolds looked a little uncomfortable but kind of stood back and let him go. The audience liked it and Vivek got a lot of media buzz, which was his intention.

In a letter dated August 23, a representative for BMI informed the campaign’s lawyer that the label had ‘received communications from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign’s use of Eminem’s musical compositions (the “Eminem Works”) and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem Works from the Agreement.’

The correspondence goes on to say that ‘this letter serves as notice that the Eminem Works are excluded from the Agreement effective immediately.’

‘BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto,’ the letter read.
The real Slim Shady stood up and asked music licenser BMI to revoke Vivek’s campaign’s license to use his music under BMI’s label.

Vivek is a longtime fan of Eminem and has spoken about rapping his songs. He and Eminem are likely simpatico on politics, mostly libertarian, but Eminem can’t be associated with a Republican candidate. At Harvard, Vivek’s stage name was ‘Da Vek’.

So, BMI attorney Pamela Williams informed them that the Eminem works are being removed from a BMI license agreement with the campaign.

In this case, it appears that Ramaswamy had a blanket agreement with BMI that allowed for the use of a broad range of works, as is standard, and that the letter was notice that the Eminem works are no longer included.

In the last cycle, the Rolling Stones worked with BMI to try to get the Trump campaign to stop using “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at rallies. Campaigns often have a license that allows them to play some 15 million works in BMI’s repertoire, but a songwriter or publisher can object to its use.

As I stated above, there is a long history of these shenanigans. Some musicians sue the campaign.

In 2008, Jackson Browne sued the Ohio Republican Party and the campaign of John McCain over the use of “Running on Empty” in a campaign ad. The litigation was settled for an undisclosed sum, and it also came with an apology. The next year, Don Henley sued Chuck DeVore, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in California, for the use of his “The Boys of Summer” and “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” in a campaign video. A judge ruled in Henley’s favor and the case ultimately was settled for an undisclosed sum, also with an apology.

Numerous other acts have publicly objected to the use of their songs at Trump’s campaign rallies over the years, including Neil Young, whose “Rockin’ in the Free World” was played when Trump announced his candidacy after descending an escalator at the Trump Tower in New York in June 2015; Queen for his use of “We Are the Champions” at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland; Rihanna, for the use of her hit song “Don’t Stop the Music” at a 2018 Trump rally in Tallahassee, FL; Pharrell Williams, whose Oscar-nominated “Happy” was played at a Trump rally hours after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018.

In 2020, Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie objected after the band’s “High Hopes” played at Trump’s Phoenix event, and the estate of the Tom Petty complained when the late singer‘s “I Won’t Back Down” also was played at a Trump’s rally that year. Young again spoke up in June 2020 after Trump played three of his songs at a Mount Rushmore event.

There’s always Lee Greenwood for Republicans. He’s been helping Republican campaign appearances for a while. Eminem’s move was a pissy thing to do but that’s show biz. He’s probably just jealous that Vivek was getting so much publicity when he’s been irrelevant for years.