(PatrioticPost.com)- On Wednesday, former ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley officially launched her 2024 presidential campaign in her home state of South Carolina.
When she walked onto the stage to announce her campaign in Charleston, the song “Eye of the Tiger” was blaring on the speakers.
After the rally, the co-writer of that song, Frankie Sullivan – the guitarist for the band Survivor who played the song – said he didn’t agree to allow Haley to use their music, and he wants her to immediately stop playing it as part of her campaign.
Sullivan said the decision to not have Haley play the song isn’t political at all, as he wouldn’t allow any politician from either political party to use his songs in their campaigns. He has some experience in this area, too, as he’s previously been victorious in cease and desist cases against politicians Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich.
In speaking with The Daily Mail about the situation, Sullivan said:
“Write their own [songs]. Half of them don’t know what the hell to do, why don’t they write their own songs? They’ll probably be lousy songs, but they won’t be any lousier than the way they run everything else.
“They don’t belong going anywhere near Eye of the Tiger. That song stays with the Rocky franchise.”
“Eye of the Tiger” is synonymous with Rocky III, the famous boxing movie that featured Sylvester Stallone and Mr. T.
Sullivan said that he’s hoping his message that he doesn’t want Haley to use his song will be followed, and that this whole incident will end up just being a “slap on the wrist, and then it all goes away.”
He added:
“Get it down. I don’t want it up there. It’s up on YouTube. I didn’t look but I know. I’m sure it is.”
Ultimately, he said he wanted the footage of Haley’s rally, which would have his song playing in the background, to be removed from YouTube altogether, but he also admitted he doesn’t think it’s likely that will happen.
However, he also added that if he needed to, he would file lawsuits to stop Haley – and other politicians – from using his songs, as he’s successfully done in the past. He filed lawsuits against Huckabee, Gingrich and Mitt Romney in the past when all tried to use “Eye of the Tiger” in their campaigns, and he won all of them.
Sullivan said that the reason he didn’t want his songs used by politicians is that “entertainment and politics don’t mix.”
In past cases, some politicians have been amenable to Sullivan, as they simply stopped using his song. That was what happened with former President Donald Trump.
With Huckabee, however, he had to take his case to trial, where he won an award of $25,000, the proceeds of which he ended up donating to charitable causes.
Haley’s first official speech of her 2024 GOP campaign is already fraught with controversy, and it has nothing to do with her political messaging.
