Hayes’ attorney, James Walker, wrote that the Trump campaign and the Republican Party repeatedly played the song “without the permission of the copyright owner, despite repeated requests from my client not to engage in such unlawful use.”
Hayes’ son, Isaac Hayes III, said the family plans to file a federal lawsuit alleging 134 rights violations by Trump at his rallies in 2022 and beyond.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee did not immediately comment.
The Hayes Foundation has demanded that the Trump campaign stop using the song altogether by Friday, remove all videos featuring the song from any websites or materials related to Trump, issue a disclaimer stating that the family has not authorized the use of the song, and pay the foundation at least $3 million for repeatedly playing the song, which is often played at the end of rallies.
Credit: Tyson Horn
Credit: Tyson Horn
Hayes III, who runs Atlanta-based Fanbase, a social media platform that allows creators to get paid for their content faster, had no further comment Sunday night.
But Hayes has frequently spoken about how exploitative his father, one of the most prolific songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s, was. After Stax Records declared bankruptcy in 1976, Hayes’ music income disappeared.
And on Saturday, he slammed the Trump campaign again after they used his father’s song, this time at a rally in Montana.
“Donald Trump is an abysmal example of integrity and decency, with his disrespect and sexual abuse of women and his racist comments,” Hayes III said. “We will now address this issue very swiftly.”
With his bass-baritone voice and flamboyant costumes that included a gold chain vest, Hayes documented the excess of the street, sex, and soul music through a musical persona that defined black hyper-masculinity.
His gritty work at Stax, which included the excellent “Theme From ‘Shaft’,” was the polar opposite of the polished sound coming out of Motown.
Hayes lived in Atlanta from the mid-1970s until 1992 and passed away in 2008.

Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Trump campaign last played the song at a rally in Montana on Friday.
At the same rally, Celine Dion’s hit song “My Heart Will Go On,” from the film “Titanic,” was performed.
On Saturday, Dion’s management team and record company, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., released a statement condemning the use of the tender ballad, even asking, “Is that really the song?”
During the presidential campaign, the Trump campaign faced constant backlash from artists upset that their music was used without their permission, including the Rolling Stones, Rihanna, Queen, Ozzy Osbourne and George Harrison’s estate.
Neil Young previously sued the former president for playing his songs, while the estates of Prince and Sinead O’Connor have both denied that their music was used in their campaigns.
And in 2016, Bruce Springsteen objected to President Trump’s slamming of “Born in the USA” at one of his events, saying the song should not be seen as a patriotic anthem, but rather as a criticism of the way America treats veterans.
In contrast, shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris entered the presidential race, Beyoncé gave her campaign permission to use her song “Freedom,” featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, from her breakthrough 2016 album, Lemonade.