Journey’s Neal Schon has filed a cease and desist against bandmate Jonathan Cain for performing at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago.
The 68-year-old lead guitarist was not impressed to say the least when the 72-year-old keyboardist performed ‘Don’t Stop Believin” at the former President’s Florida resort in November, because Journey “is not, and should not be, political.”
Jonathan – whose wife Paula White-Cain was a spiritual advisor to Trump – is accused by his bandmate of “unauthorised affiliation of Journey” with Trump’s politics.
Neal’s lawyer wrote: “Although Mr. Cain is free to express his personal beliefs and associations, when he does that on behalf of Journey or for the band, such conduct is extremely deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarises the band’s fans and outreach. Journey is not, and should not be, political.
“Mr. Cain’s unauthorised affiliation of Journey with the politics of Donald Trump has the band’s fans up in arms, as is demonstrated by a sample of the attached emails and Twitter comments.”
Jonathan claimed it has resulted in “irreparable harm” to the group’s brand and “earning potential”.
The letter went on: “This has caused, and continues to cause, irreparable harm to the Journey brand, its fan base and earning potential, especially in light of the forthcoming tour.
“Mr. Cain has no right to use Journey for politics … he should not be capitalising on Journey’s brand to promote his personal political or religious agenda to the detriment of the band.”
Jonathan has hit back and accused his bandmate of lying.
He responded: “Schon is just frustrated that he keeps losing in court and is now falsely claiming the song has been used at political rallies.”
The band has had a number of legal fallouts over the years.
Back in March 2020, Journey fired longtime bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith for an alleged “malicious and very ill-conceived” coup attempt to gain control of the band’s copyright from Neal and Jonathan.
The pair’s lawyer told Rolling Stone magazine at the time: “The Journey name is controlled by Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain. And for very good cause, they don’t want to perform with Smith or Valory anymore, they don’t want to have anything to do with them, and that’s their right. They’re going to go on with Journey, continue with the great success of the past and these two guys are going to get replaced.”
Ross – who was also fired by the band in 1985 and replaced by Randy Jackson – and Steve later countersued.
Randy returned to the group in May 2020.