In the run-up to Donald Trump’s military “birthday parade,” the event organizers offered $750 to use a famous ballad for Trump’s Army celebration.
As the tank-heavy parade rolled into Washington, D.C., the hit 1960s song, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” boomed in our nation’s capital, providing part of the soundtrack to the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary celebration and, as it were, President Trump’s birthday party. The song was featured so prominently that it even played during the event’s celebratory fireworks climax.
There’s one problem. According to a new cease-and-desist letter reviewed by Rolling Stone, the organizers for Trump’s military parade were explicitly told they did not have permission to use the song, acknowledged that they did not have permission, and then — according to this letter — “illegally” used the song for Trump’s festivities regardless.
The letter, dated June 27, was written by attorney Paul Millman, representing Amber Leigh Music Inc. Amber Scott is the daughter of the long deceased Bobby Scott, who co-wrote “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” It says the parade organizers failed to request Scott’s permission to use the song — and were denied permission in writing by Wise Music Group, which represents the interests of co-writer Bob Russell.
The legal warning is addressed to Suzi Barry, senior director of clearance operations at EMG Inc., which acted as a subcontractor for America250, the nonprofit that helped manage the parade operations. Millman copied Wise Music Group, Trump’s White House counsel David Warrington, and America250, a nominally bipartisan but increasingly MAGAfied initiative.
“On June 14, 2025, the work was performed twice — without a license — during the finale of America250’s event on the National Mall,” the document reads. “This event was nationally televised, globally streamed, and posted to social media. Under 17 U.S.C. §106, your firm and/or your client(s) committed at least two separate violations:(1) you never sought required permissions from Amber Leigh Music; and (2) after you contacted Wise Music Group (representatives for the lyricist’s share), you received Wise’s explicit written denial on June 10, 2025 at 9:18AM PDT and then acknowledged that denial hours later, at 5:11PM PDT.”
Rolling Stone also reviewed written communications that corroborate these details.
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The D.C. military parade was billed as an event marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. But there were no plans to hold a highly militarized parade — a rare occurrence in American culture, but one that is more popular in other nations, including totalitarian and authoritarian regimes — until Trump stepped back into power. Furthermore, as Rolling Stone previously reported, the president was privately insistent that a military bash be thrown on his birthday, to the point that some administration officials began referring to it simply as “Donald Trump’s birthday parade.”
The mid-June event, which coincided with the large anti-Trump “No Kings” protests across the country, was just one facet of the second Trump administration’s wide-ranging efforts that direct at least a billion dollars and counting in taxpayer money towards the greater good of making Trump feel good about himself.
It wasn’t hard for anyone to see the military parade for what it was — not as a purely apolitical celebration of our troops, but as a heavily politicized event put on by and for President Trump. Several speakers wished him a happy birthday, and Trump ultimately gave a campaign-style speech. America 250’s sponsors included defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, online retailer Amazon, and spy tech firm Palantir.
“Obviously the biggest issue here is unauthorized use,” Scott tells Rolling Stone. “My dad was a huge supporter of our armed forces and of those who sacrificed for our country. Many of the songs he wrote, like ‘That’s Where my Brother Sleeps’ and ‘This is My Country,’ absolutely reflect that love and speak for themselves. His love for our country and military was apolitical, and given the prominent corporate sponsorship, timing of other events, and the overall production… people had questions as to whether this truly was a nonpartisan event.”
Scott continues: “My dad’s song was performed live during the fireworks finale. It wasn’t used in some incidental way… you know, as background music to passing tanks. It seems that the organizers felt so strongly about the message in my dad’s song that they made a very detailed plan to use it, without authorization, during the finale.”
America250, Warrington and White House spokespeople, EMG, and Wise Music Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story.
The cease-and-desist letter says the situation is “deeply ironic,” given that EMG’s website (www.clearance.com) “prominently displays warnings about not obtaining proper clearance.” (“Use a note. Go to jail,” the website warns.”) The letter adds, “Despite the above stated facts, the work was illegally used in the event, as well as featured in the live broadcast.”
The letter goes on to say: “Furthermore, California Senator Alex Padilla, part of the leadership of America250 (on whose behalf you stated you were acting), has publicly condemned violations of artists’ rights. Recently, he introduced the American Music Fairness Act, a bill designed to ‘ensure that artists and music creators are paid for the use of their songs.’”
Padilla, a Democratic senator, recently called Trump a “tyrant,” after he was aggressively manhandled, forced to the floor, and handcuffed while trying to ask Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem a question.
As of this writing, the Trump White House’s YouTube page still has a video posted of the June 14 parade, and you can easily hear Scott’s song.
The cease and desist claims that “under 17 U.S.C. §§ 106, 501 & 504(c)(2), this knowing, willful infringement exposes you and/or your client(s) to statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work. This unauthorized use in a high-profile broadcast/event with significant political undertones also falsely implies endorsement, violating 15 U.S.C. §1125(a) and supporting additional state-law claims.”
In the letter, Scott and the attorney demand that, among other listed items, the involved parties “remove all public videos and recaps containing” the hit ballad, and “preserve all documents, cue sheets, and recordings relating to the June 14 event.” The letter gives a deadline of 5:00 p.m. on June 30, after which the attorney suggests they will be weighing further potential legal options.
For Trump, it has been roughly a decade of musicians — including some of the most famous in the world — and their estates getting mad at him for using their songs, sans permission, during his events and campaign rallies. There have been times where Trump refuses to stop using the song. Sometimes, the recording artists or rock stars, and their legal teams, have had to get creative in their attempts to stop the president — as was the case with The Rolling Stones.
Starting during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump used their classic song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” as his political theme song and campaign rally exit music. Almost as soon as he began doing that, the Stones, via their publicist, kept telling the world that they did not authorize The Donald and his relentlessly nativist, fascist-leaning campaign to use their music. For a frame of reference, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards disliked Trump so much that back in the late 1980s Richards literally took out a knife and stabbed a table while instructing a concert promoter to “get rid of this man” and get Trump out of the building.
For years, Trump kept using the song on the campaign trail anyways — that is, until the 2020 election, when the Stones worked with performing rights group BMI and its attorneys to finally come up with the kind of legal attack plan and lawsuit threat that actually worked.
That year, Trump was forced to change his campaign song. Famously, he landed on the Village People “Y.M.C.A.” dance tune, and it has been MAGA’s very dignified soundtrack ever since.
From Rolling Stone US
