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Trump's team removes video with Beyoncé song

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Former President Donald Trump's campaign team has removed a video featuring a song by Beyoncé after reports emerged that the singer's camp did not agree with the use of the word “freedom.”

According to Billboard and Rolling Stone, the singer's record label and music publisher have sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trump's presidential campaign for using the song without permission.

Rolling Stone was first to report the news that the “Cowboy Carter” artist had not cleared her song for use by the former president. USA TODAY has reached out to Beyoncé's rep for comment.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, shared a video on his own X account of the former president getting off a plane on August 20, accompanied by the melody of the 2016 song “Freedom.” The video was still visible on Cheung's social media account until Wednesday afternoon.

“Touchdown in Michigan!! @realDonaldTrump”, read the caption.

Later that evening the X-post was removed.

Beyoncé gave Kamala Harris permission to use “Freedom” for her presidential campaign

“Freedom” from Beyoncé’s acclaimed 2016 album “Lemonade” has become the unofficial anthem of Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

As fans know, Beyoncé's camp immediately gave Harris permission in July to use the song featuring Kendrick Lamar throughout her campaign.

Harris used the song during her first official visit to her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware – a day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Harris.

Trump's video with the song “Freedom” comes as part of the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago. Beyoncé's song was played frequently throughout the convention.

It should be noted that the singer has not yet publicly endorsed a presidential candidate, but her inner circle has supported Harris, including her mother Tina Knowles.

Donald Trump releases fake Taylor Swift ad

The alleged misuse of Beyoncé's song is not the first failure that Trump's team has made in recent days during his presidential candidacy.

On Sunday, Trump posted several images on his social media platform Truth Social, presumably generated by artificial intelligence, in which he alluded to the support of Taylor Swift and the Swifties for his campaign, even though the singer has expressed her disdain for the Republican candidate in the past.

“Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump,” reads one generated image of Swift as Uncle Sam, while another, seemingly artificially generated image marked as satire, reads: “Swifties turn to Trump after ISIS foils Taylor Swift's concert.” The image refers to a suspected terrorist attack planned for Swift's concert in Vienna earlier this month. Austrian authorities were able to foil the attack with help from U.S. authorities.

The images include a mix of real and AI images, including Swifties for Trump supporters, similar to the real-life group MAGA Swifties.

Although Swift has not yet endorsed a candidate for the 2024 election, she has become increasingly vocal about her political views in recent years.

Contributors: Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY

Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok And X as @cachemcclay.

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