Sinead O’Connor‘s estate has called for the removal of the late singer’s music from Donald Trump‘s political campaign rallies. During recent stops in Maryland and North Carolina in the last week, her defining single “Nothing Compares 2 U” was played during events that O’Connor herself would have adamantly denounced herself.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Sinéad would have been disgusted, hurt and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a ‘biblical devil,’” O’Connor’s estate representatives shared in a statement to Variety. “As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately.”
The representative stated that it was with “outrage” that the use of “Nothing Compares 2 U” at these rallies was brought to their attention. The statement added: “Throughout her life, it is well known that Sinéad O’Connor lived by a fierce moral code defined by honesty, kindness, fairness and decency towards her fellow human beings.”
In an interview with Hot Press in 2020, republished shortly after her death in July 2023, O’Connor spoke at length about her disdain for Trump, who at the time was still in the White House. “Nobody should think he’s doing this just so he can get elected,” she said. “He is devilish enough that he believes in this stuff. They should have dragged him out of the White House at the point he separated the first child from their parents at the Mexican border.”
She added: “American people; it’s a double-edged sword. Their greatest blessing is their greatest curse. Their national trait is kindness, and now perhaps they’re being too kind. They should be non-violently dragging him out of the office.”
O’Connor, who died from natural causes at the age of 56, posthumously joins an extensive list of musicians who have blocked Trump from using their music during his political campaigns. Others include Adele, the Beatles, Rihanna, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Linkin Park, Guns n’ Roses, Prince, Queen, Tom Petty, Panic! at the Disco, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Pharrell Williams, and more.