Johnny Marr rips Donald Trump for playing Smiths song at rally

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The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is miserable now after learning that Donald Trump played the British band’s song Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want at campaign events in South Dakota and New Hampshire.

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A video shared by ABC presidential campaign reporter Soorin Kim on X showed crowds being greeted by The Smiths’ 1984 hit during a Trump rally in South Dakota last fall. “You actually hear The Smiths more often than you’d think at 2024 Trump rallies,” Kim captioned her clip.

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Kim’s social media post came after freelance reporter Ben Jacobs tweeted that The Smiths’ music was heard in New Hampshire on Monday before Trump took the stage after winning the primary.

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“As Trump is scheduled to take the stage in Laconia, the new addition to his pre-rally music is The Smiths,” Jacobs wrote.

With clips of the event quickly going viral, Marr, 60, pledged to stop Trump from using the song at future rallies.

“Ahh … right … OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer wrote on X. Consider this s*** shut right down right now.”

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Trump, who is running for a second term as U.S. president after first serving as America’s leader from 2017 to 2021, has frequently gotten himself in trouble with musical artists for playing their songs at his rallies.

Adele, Aerosmith, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Tom Petty, the estate of Prince, Nickelback and Guns n’ Roses are among those who have all taken issue when the former Celebrity Apprentice personality and part-time DJ at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago has played their music at his campaign events.

Last year, David Bowie’s son, director Duncan Jones, hit out at Trump for using his late father’s hit Rebel Rebel at a rally held inside his private club in Palm Beach.

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“Pretty sure this f***er keeps on using my dad’s music just to annoy me personally,” Jones wrote, before adding, “Joke. I’m way below his radar.”

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The Smiths frontman Morrissey has yet to speak out on Trump’s use of the song, but in a 2017 interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel he said that if he could push a button to kill the 45th president, he would do it.

“I would for the safety of the human race,” Morrissey said. “It’s nothing to do with my personal opinion of his face or his family, but in the interest of the human race, I would, yes.”

The singer later backtracked in a message posted to his Facebook page, and said he was investigated by authorities over the remark.

“I was cross-examined by the American Secret Service, who were very, very nice,” he said on YouTube. “And I do understand their position. So that went very, very well, and they assured me that they have no cause for concern.”

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Meanwhile, Marr has frequently spoken out against conservatives who have claimed to like The Smiths. After former British prime minister David Cameron name-checked This Charming Man as one of his favourites in a conversation with the BBC’s Desert Island Discs, Marr said he “forbid” the politician from liking the track.

“Stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don’t,” Marr chided on X. “I forbid you to like it.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

X: @markhdaniell

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