Johnny Marr is furious that Donald Trump used a Smiths song during one of the former president’s rallies.
The Manchester group’s 1984 tune ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want’ was played at the controversial politician’s South Dakota Republican rally last year.
An X user posted a clip from the event and wrote: “You actually hear The Smiths more often than you’d think at 2024 Trump rallies.”
Marr, who composed the song, just got wind of the clip and responded: “Ahh…right…OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this [redacted] shut right down right now.”
Several other artists have hit out at Trump for using their music at rallies and in campaign material, including The Rolling Stones, who sent stern warnings with cease-and-desist letters in 2020 when he played their music at rallies.
Trump’s ascent to become President of the United States and Brexit in the UK were sources of inspiration for Marr’s 2018 LP ‘Call the Comet’.
He told Q magazine before the release: “I was trying to imagine an alternative society. Because of what had happened with Brexit and Trump and everything, I came into this record really determined to not let those f***wits impede on my creative life
“But you’re living in this world and you can’t do anything about it. So much of the record is about dislocation. Whether it’s being forced by the political system or because of personal demons. I was trying to imagine an alternative society.”
Meanwhile, the 60-year-old musician previously lambasted David Cameron, the then-leader of the Conservative party, when he picked The Smiths’ classic ‘This Charming Man’ as one of his songs on an episode of ‘Desert Island Discs’.
The anti-Tory moaned: “David Cameron, stop saying that you like The Smiths. No you don’t. I forbid you to like it.”