Former president uses song most commonly associated with sinking ship; uses back-up plane belonging to Epstein
By Darrel Ehrlick DAILY MONTANAN
Celine Dion’s career-defining song, “My Heart Will Go On,” will continue to go on — but preferably and legally not at events for Donald J. Trump, who is running as the Republican nominee for president of the United States.
The song, best remembered from the cinema blockbuster “Titanic,” was used at Trump’s rally when he came to Bozeman on Friday.
Commentators and social media was abuzz about the video from the event because the popular song, which is now 28 years old, is synonymous with a massive sinking ship.
But its use during the Friday rally, which featured most notable Montana Republicans, didn’t escape the notice of Dion herself, who, along with her record label, took to Twitter to demand that Trump’s campaign immediately stop using the song.
Her statement read:
“Today, Celine Dion’s management team and her record label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., became aware of the unauthorized usage of the video, recording, musical performance, and likeness of Celine Dion singing “My Heart Will Go On” at a Donald Trump / JD Vance campaign rally in Montana.
“In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use.
“…And really, THAT song?”
Emails to the Trump campaign by the Daily Montanan on Monday went unanswered.
It’s also unknown whether the Trump campaign intends to continue using the song in the future. Trump’s presidential campaign hasn’t scheduled many events recently, with Bozeman’s rally for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy being the notable exception. Trump’s campaign has told CNBC and other media that it will not go back on the road until after the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Chicago. That concludes next Thursday, Aug. 22.
It’s not the first time that the Trump campaign has run into trouble with its musical selection.
Trump was noted for using the Village People’s disco hit, “Y.M.C.A.,” but in 2023 a letter from the group’s lawyer demanded that he stop using that song, according to Rolling Stone.
There’s a growing number of artists and groups (of people dead and alive) that have demanded, either legally or publicly, that Trump stop using their recordings at his rallies or events associated with him, including The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Leonard Cohen and Luciano Pavarotti.
In fact, there’s a Wikipedia page dedicated to chronicling the artists who have demanded Trump stop and what songs the campaign was using.
It wasn’t the only hiccup related to the Montana event. On Friday, Trump’s “Trump Force One,” a Boeing 757, was forced to land in Billings because of a mechanical issue.
However, afterward as he traveled to private fundraisers in Wyoming and Colorado, he flew on a plane once owned by infamous financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Trump and Epstein were associates, although Trump has denied knowing about Epstein’s felonious activities, including using one of his private jets that was later dubbed “The Lolita Express.”
The Trump campaign told USA Today that it did not know about the plane’s history when it was pressed into service.
