'Height of Blasphemy': Estates of Rufus Wainwright and Leonard Cohen Reject Trump's Use of 'Hallelujah' | Music

Leonard Cohen's estate has issued a cease-and-desist order against Donald Trump after a recording of Rufus Wainwright singing Cohen's song Hallelujah was played at a bizarre campaign event.

Wainwright also condemned Trump's use of the song at the town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania. The singer described Hallelujah as “an anthem dedicated to peace, love and acceptance of the truth.” It has been a great honor for me over the years to be associated with this ode to tolerance. Witnessing Trump and his supporters communicating with this music last night was the height of blasphemy. Of course, I don't condone this in any way and was mortified, but the good part of me hopes that as Donald Trump reflects on and listens to the lyrics of Cohen's masterpiece, he might feel a twinge of remorse for what he has done. I’m not holding my breath.”

The song was one of several Trump played during a question-and-answer session at Oaks, where scores of audience members required medical attention amid high temperatures. Trump initially joked about the heat: “I personally enjoy it.” We lose weight. We could do this, lose four, five pounds” – and then switched to playing music like Luciano Pavarotti’s recording on Ave Maria and said: “Let’s ask no more questions. Let’s just listen to music.”

In addition to Hallelujah, the epic power ballad November Rain by Guns N' Roses was also played, alongside James Brown's It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World, the Village People's YMCA and Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor.

Trump later wrote on Truth Social: “The question and answer session was almost over as people fainted from the excitement and heat.” While we waited, we started playing music and just kept going. So different, but in the end it was a GREAT EVENING!”

Kamala Harris captioned a clip of the event with the words, “I hope he's okay.”

It's now common for artists to object to their music being played at Trump campaign rallies and events. In August, Beyoncé blocked use of her song Freedom — a licensed soundtrack for the Harris-Walz campaign — after it appeared in a Trump campaign video. Earlier this month, the estate of the late Isaac Hayes rejected the use of the Hayes-penned Sam & Dave hit Hold On, I'm Comin'.

So many other artists have defied it, from Rihanna to the Rolling Stones, that there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the phenomenon.

Hallelujah, meanwhile, remains a modern pop standard, having been performed by dozens of artists since its initially unnoticed release by Cohen in 1984. The most famous version was recorded by Jeff Buckley in 1994, but was inspired by John Cale's 1991 version, while Wainwright's version followed in 2001, recorded for the Shrek soundtrack.

Alexandra Burke's version reached number one in the UK at Christmas 2008 after winning The X Factor, while Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi and Bono are among the other artists with renditions.