On Thursday, The Guardian reported that the rock band Journey is on the verge of legal conflict over one member's decision to play on behalf of former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida.
"A member of the rock band Journey has served a fellow bandmate with a cease-and-desist order for performing their hit Don’t Stop Believin’ with several high-profile Republicans for Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, calling the performance 'harmful' to the band," reported Sian Cain. "Keyboardist Jonathan Cain, guitarist Neal Schon and singer Steve Perry co-wrote the 1981 song, which returned to public consciousness 30 years later when it was used in the final episode of The Sopranos."
According to the report, Cain came to be close to the former president through his wife, televangelist Paula White-Cain, who has acted as Trump's spiritual adviser.
"In November, Cain performed Don’t Stop Believin’ with Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Kari Lake for Trump at his Florida resort," said the report. "On Wednesday, it was revealed by Variety that Schon’s attorney had issued a cease-and-desist letter to Cain over the performance."
"Mr. Cain’s unauthorized affiliation of Journey with the politics of Donald Trump has the band’s fans up in arms, as is demonstrated by a sample of the attached emails and Twitter comments. This has caused, and continues to cause, irreparable harm to the Journey brand, its fan base and earning potential, especially in light of the forthcoming tour," stated the letter. “Mr. Cain has no right to use Journey for politics … he should not be capitalizing on Journey’s brand to promote his personal political or religious agenda to the detriment of the band.”
The use of rock and popular music for campaign events has frequently become a matter of contention for musicians, but Trump in particular has seen a litany of musicians demand he not use their songs in political settings, from Neil Young, to R.E.M., to Elton John, to the Rolling Stones.