Kamala Harris is famously using Beyoncé’s “Freedom” as the theme song for her presidential campaign. The track — which features Kendrick Lamar —reminds everyone that she’s the candidate who’s all about freedom and signals a working relationship between two influential Black women — which seems to be threatening Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
As such, Steven Cheung, who is reportedly a Trump campaign spokesperson posted a video on X of the MAGA leader getting off a plane in Michigan set to “Freedom.”
While the Harris campaign got clearance from Beyoncé, Trump’s team is notorious for using artists’ music without their permission. According to Rolling Stone, the 32-time Grammy winner’s team has already threatened the campaign with a “cease-and-desist.” The outlet’s sources revealed that “the Trump campaign did not receive permission” for the song’s use.
The move seems an obvious attempt to steal the vice president’s thunder, except it’s backfiring hilariously on social media: Cheung found himself flooded with bee emojis, while a lot of users are pointing out how Bey’s team might join all those other artists in possibly looking to take legal action.
One person pointed out this move hurts them more than Harris, replying on X, “And now you will be sued, again, for Copyright Infringement. You, folks, are destroying yourselves, good job!”
Another user noted the complete nonsense of the video, posting, “You must be kidding, using the @Beyonce song of the Kamala campaign!? Stealing everything has consequences.”
Someone else asked why they don’t have music clearances from major names, writing on X, “Can you all NOT FIND ARTISTS THAT LIKE HIM?? That will not sue you for using their music !!! That’s SAD.”
One person got right to the point, replying, “Oh beyonces legal team is CLOCKED IN.”
Here’s the thing: This is just a 13 second clip on X, so maybe it’s not meant to be an official campaign video. However, anyone who’s spent time on the internet knows that when major artists make complaints about their music, it doesn’t take long for social media platforms to take a video down in order to cover their own asses.
He could’ve picked any song for something this innocuous, but he chose this song for a very specific reason. No matter what the consequences are for this little stunt, even if it’s just a deleted post, Cheung is going to find out very quickly that the one group you don’t mess with is the Beyhive.