Pop star Adele has issued a statement to distance herself from Donald Trump, after he used her music at his rallies.
The
Republican presidential candidate, whose slogan is "Make America great
again", has recently been playing Adele's hit Rolling In The Deep as his
"warm-up" music.
"Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning," her spokesman confirmed.
It is not the first time Trump has been criticised for appropriating pop songs.
Lawyers
for Aerosmith star Steven Tyler sent Trump's campaign a
cease-and-desist letter last year, after the politician played the
band's hit single Dream On at numerous rallies around the US.
The letter said Trump's use of the song gave "a false impression" he endorsed Mr Trump's presidential bid.
Trump responded on Twitter, saying he had the legal right to use the song, but had found "a better one to take its place".
"Steven Tyler got more publicity on his song request than he's gotten in 10 years. Good for him!" he added.
'Unlikely combo'
Previously,
the businessman had played Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World - an
angry response to presidency of George Bush Senior - while announcing
his candidacy.
Young, a well-known liberal, demanded that Trump
stop using the song and declared his support for Democratic candidate
Bernie Sanders instead.
Trump then used REM's It's the End of the World as
We Know It (And I Feel Fine), prompting singer Michael Stipe to issue a
strongly-worded statement, saying: "Do not use our music or my voice for
your moronic charade of a campaign."
The politician was first
observed to have played Adele's hit during a rally held in Lexington,
South Carolina, last week. prompting BBC's North America Editor Jon
Sopel to comment it was an "unlikely combo".
But Trump is believed to be a fan of the singer's work, even having watched her perform in New York.
Politicians
using songs by musicians who do not support them has been a thorny
issue for decades, since Bruce Springsteen castigated President Reagan
for planning to use Born in the USA as a backdrop for his 1984
re-election campaign.
Technically, US copyright laws give
politicians carte blanche to use recorded music at their rallies - as
long as the venue has a public performance licence issued through a
songwriters' association such as ASCAP or BMI (in the US) or PRS (in the
UK).
However, there is some leeway for an artist to complain
their image and reputation is being damaged by the repeated use of a
song without their express permission.