Donald Trump Town Hall sees him dance for 30 minutes to Sinead O’Connor, Rufus Wainwright, Guns N’ Roses and more

15 October, 2024

U.S. Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump dances during a campaign rally

Donald Trump’s Town Hall took a turn for the unexpected earlier this week, as he was seen dancing along to music for 30 minutes.

Held in Oaks, Pennsylvania on Monday night (October 14), the town hall was reportedly interrupted by medical emergencies multiple times – something outlets such as Consequence have reported as being due to the warm temperatures inside the venue.

As it progressed, the former POTUS and current Republican party leader eventually stopped answering political questions, and instead hosted a 30-minute listening party using songs from his personal playlist.

According to various outlets, the tracks played at the event included songs by artists who have already threatened Trump with legal action. This included Sinead O’Connor’s version of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – which was reportedly played despite the singer’s estate issuing a cease and desist order to the politician for using the song at his rallies.

Also played was Guns N’ Roses classic ‘November Rain’, which was broadcast at the town hall despite the band’s frontman Axl Rose repeatedly criticising Trump on social media.

James Brown’s ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’, Rufus Wainwright’s version of ‘Hallelujah’, Oliver Anthony’s ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’, and Elvis Presley’s ‘An American Trilogy’, were also played, as were Andrea Bocelli’s ‘Time to Say Goodbye’, ‘Ave Maria’, ‘Memory’ from Cats, and ‘YMCA’.

Various clips from the event were soon posted to social media, and in the videos, Trump can be seen enjoying the playlist, bobbing his head, dancing along and mouthing along to various lyrics with fans.

“Wow — this was weird. Trump wrapped up his ‘town hall’ in Oaks, Pennsylvania, after just a few questions, and right after he said he would take a few more questions. More music then played while Trump stood around on stage. Deeply bizarre scenes,” one person wrote on X/Twitter, sharing clips from the night.

Another wrote: “Holy shit, this is absolutely INSANE”, while a third shared: “In what is the craziest thing that I’ve ever seen in politics, Donald Trump spent the last 38 minutes of his Pennsylvania townhall just listening to music and dancing on stage, alone. 8 different songs played in that time.”

Check out more reactions below.

The use of Sinead O’Connor’s music in his political rallies is far from the only time that Trump has been told by an artist not to use their music in his campaigns.

In August, for example, Jack White warned the Trump presidential campaign not to use his music after a clip of  The White Stripes’ music appeared in a video. “Oh….Don’t even think about using my music you fascists,” the musician said after ‘Seven Nation Army’ was used, later adding that he would be filing a lawsuit for its inappropriate use.

Last month, it was also reported that Trump had lost a legal battle over using Eddy Grant‘s song ‘Electric Avenue’ without permission.

Elsewhere, Isaac Hayes’ estate is suing Trump for $3million (£2.28m) after allegedly finding over 130 instances where the song was used at his campaign rallies without permission, ABBA demanded Trump stop using their music, and Beyoncé reportedly threatened the former president with legal action for using her song ‘Freedom’ in a social media video.

Celine Dion also said she did not endorse the use of her iconic song ‘My Heart Will Go On’, while Johnny Marr “shut down” his use of The Smiths’ ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’.

Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Queen and The Animals have all had similar run-ins with Trump over music usage.

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