LONDON (AP) — The estate of Sinead O’Connor on Monday asked Donald Trump not to play her music at campaign rallies, saying the late singer considered the former president a “biblical devil.”
Trump has played O’Connor’s biggest hit, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” at events as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination.
In a joint statement, O’Connor’s estate and her record label, Chrysalis, demanded Trump “desist from using her music immediately.”
It said the Irish singer, who died last year aged 56, “lived by a fierce moral code defined by honesty, kindness, fairness and decency towards her fellow human beings.”
“It was with outrage therefore that we learned that Donald Trump has been using her iconic performance of Nothing Compares 2 U at his political rallies,” the statement said.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Sinead 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.’ As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately.”
Fiery and outspoken, O’Connor was a critic of the Roman Catholic Church well before allegations of sexual abuse were widely reported, and was open about her mental health struggles.
She was found unresponsive at her London home in July and pronounced dead at the scene. A coroner ruled that she died of natural causes.
O’Connor joins a growing list of artists who have objected to Trump using their songs, including Rihanna, Neil Young, Linkin Park, the late Tom Petty and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.