Left: Isaac Hayes III outside a federal courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sept. 3, 2024 (AP Photo/Kate Brumback). Right: Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before departing Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 6, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, Pool).
The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday asked the federal judge who recently blocked the Trump campaign from playing the 1966 Sam and Dave classic “Hold on I’m Coming” at rallies to allow more time for a response to the lawsuit since the plaintiff, the son of song co-writer Isaac Hayes, plans on amending the lawsuit in the coming days.
As Law&Crime has reported, Hayes’ estate and son Isaac Hayes III publicly threatened to sue for copyright infringement in August.
“Today, on the anniversary of my father @isaachayes death we have repeatedly asked Donald Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use ‘Hold on I’m Coming’ written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter during campaign rallies but yet again, in Montana they used it,” Hayes III wrote on X. “Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric.”
“We will now deal with this very swiftly,” he added.
Hayes III, Isaac Hayes Enterprises LLC, and attorney James Walker then followed through on the lawsuit threat days later, with Walker alluding to the Ten Commandments in comment about the case against Trump, the Trump campaign, Turning Point USA, the NRA, and the American Conservative Union.
The deadline has passed, so as of 5:59PM EST The Estate of @IsaacHayes has filed a lawsuit in United States Federal Court, Northern District against Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump, the RNC, Donald J Trump for President, Inc., and a several other parties for copyright… pic.twitter.com/faDMhKkE9i
— Isaac Hayes III (@IsaacHayes3) August 17, 2024
“Thou Shalt Not Steal!” Walker said, claiming that repeated warnings not to use the song were ignored.
Thereafter, the Hayes estate sought and was granted an injunction, as Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash, Jr., blocked the Trump campaign from playing the song but declined to order the removal of videos where the song can be heard.
The Associated Press, citing Trump campaign attorney Ronald Coleman, reported that the campaign wasn’t going to try to “force the issue” on the use of the song and was already going to stop playing it.
“The campaign has no interest in annoying or hurting anyone, and if the Hayes family feels that it hurts or annoys them, that’s fine, we’re not going to force the issue,” Coleman reportedly said Tuesday, even as the parties await the deposition of BMI, the music licensing company that the defendants’ said issued a “Music License for Political Entities or Organizations” in 2022, allowing the campaign to use “Hold on, I’m Coming.”
But before any other progress can be made, it seems the plaintiff will be amending the lawsuit. That, the RNC maintains, should lead the judge to grant an “emergency” motion to push back a Sept. 13 deadline to respond to the suit.
RNC attorneys with Jones Day on Friday said it “would serve little purpose to require the RNC to incur the expense of responding to a complaint for which Plaintiffs plan to seek leave to amend,” so the judge should issue, on an “emergency” and “expedited basis,” issue an “an order tolling the deadline[.]”
Writing that the plaintiffs did not oppose the request, the RNC revealed that it “does not yet know with certainty how Plaintiffs will seek to amend the Amended Complaint,” but that Walker forecasted a motion to modify the suit in the coming days.
“The RNC should not be required to spend time and money responding to a complaint that Plaintiffs will seek to amend. If Plaintiffs’ motion to amend is granted, the time and money spent responding to the Amended Complaint (as opposed to a second amended complaint) will have been wasted in whole or in part,” the motion said.
Again, while it is unclear how the suit will change, it’s worth noting that Turning Point USA, in a Sept. 1 filing, argued that Hayes’ estate sued the wrong entity.
“TPUSA did not host or sponsor Defendant Trump’s speech or appearance at any of the noted events,” the filing said. “Plaintiffs should have instead named Turning Point Action, Inc.—a separate 501(c)(4) nonprofit entity that was responsible for hosting Mr. Trump at and sponsoring the noted events.”
Days before the injunction, the Trump campaign attempted to make the case that its use of “Hold On, I’m Coming” may not have offended the late singer.
For instance, a declaration from Sam Moore, the 88-year-old surviving member of Sam and Dave, said “there is good reason for it to reject the presumptions suggested by the plaintiffs concerning the political views of Isaac Hayes.”
“In fact, during his life Isaac Hayes, my wife Joyce and I traveled to Columbia, South Carolina to perform at the 20th High School Reunion of Lee Atwater when he was Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Isaac also participated in an album project for Lee Atwater with Billy Preston, Chuck Jackson, Carla Thomas and myself,” the declaration submitted by the campaign said. “Isaac did not view Republicans or the Republican Party negatively while he was alive.”
Hayes III, meanwhile, was adamant in a radio interview that there is “no” chance the Hayes estate would have approved the song for use at Trump rallies.
“I don’t necessarily want to inject my father’s music into politics because I feel that, that all types of people around the world love Isaac Hayes so I don’t think his music should be used in a political fashion,” he said. “And so, I don’t want that. But Donald Trump is definitely not the person. I don’t want people to hear ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ and think of Donald Trump at all, in any shape or form.”
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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