Neil Young files second lawsuit against Trump for unauthorised use of Rockin’ in the Free World at rallies

The musician and outspoken critic of the president is suing for $10m in reputational damages – six years after a settlement in which Trump agreed not to use the song again

Neil Young is suing Donald Trump’s political action committee Trump 47 Committee Inc for $10m (£7.47m) over alleged copyright infringement of his song Rockin’ in the Free World after the US president used it as walk-up music in recent midterm election rallies.

It is the second time that Young has filed against one of Trump’s organisations over his unlicenced use of the song. He first did so in 2020, against the corporation Donald J Trump for President Inc. Trump settled, promising, according to Young’s suit, that his organisation “would never again use Rockin’ in the Free World without a license and permission from Young”.

Filed on Monday in the US district court for the eastern district of Virginia, the suit states that Trump’s ongoing use of the song meant that Young, a very vocal critic of the president, “has suffered damage to his reputation and brand as a result of the implication that he supports Donald J Trump in any way”.

Trump’s administration has not yet responded to the suit.

Young’s case outlines how diametrically opposed his 1989 song is to Trump’s values, calling it “a blistering anthem that contrasts the hollow promises of American political rhetoric with the harsh realities faced by the poor, homeless and forgotten.

“The lyrics pain vivid street-level portraits – a mother discarding her baby, addicts lost in despair, garbage piling in the shadows of prosperity – while the repeated chorus delivers a savage irony, celebrating freedom that clearly isn’t shared by all. In short, the song is the opposite of everything that Donald J Trump stands for.”

Lawyers for Young cite the playing of the song at the president’s rally in Ohio on 12 October but state that it has been played “numerous times at other rallies designed to encourage Republican votes in the upcoming mid-term elections”. Young also seeks an injunction against further public performances.

Young’s anti-Trump stance is clear: he has repeatedly damned the president in writings on his website and in 2025 released a protest song about his administration, Big Crime. “Don’t need no fascist rules / Don’t want no fascist schools / Don’t want soldiers walking on the streets,” Young sings. “Got to get the fascists out / Got to clean the White House out … no more money to the fascists, the billionaire fascists.”

In the past 12 months, the Trump presidency has amped up its strategy of trolling leftwing musicians – including Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter and SZA – by using their songs to soundtrack ICE propaganda or clips about Trump’s strategy in Iran. In August, Taylor Swift had her song August removed from a video celebrating the Trump presidency.