Obviously, Foo Fighters did not approve Trump using "My Hero" to greet RFK Jr.

There’s nothing new in noting that the American political right has a serious dearth of good music. Unless you really like “Bawitdaba,” or whatever qualifies as “rally safe” when culled from the Ted Nugent oeuvre, a playlist made up entirely of listenable tracks from artists willing to have their work associated with Donald Trump is going to be pretty short, and get pretty repetitive, pretty quick. The Trump campaign, then, has basically opted to play good music instead, and hope they don’t get hit with too many lawsuits—a strategy that has now produced at least two major complaints in the recent election, from Celine Dion, and the estate of the late Isaac Hayes. (Also, Neil Young, because that is Neil Young’s curse: Living in a world of perpetual frustration at the wrong people liking his music in the wrong ways.)

Now, reps for Foo Fighters have vocalized their own displeasure at the band’s songs being incorporated into one of the most aggressively pathetic moments of the entire 2024 election to date: Trump welcoming out ursine disposal specialist RFK Jr. to the strains of the band’s “My Hero,” at an event in Arizona this evening. Kennedy dropped out of the campaign earlier today, throwing his endorsement behind Trump, in the stated hopes that the former president will help him make American children not be so obese any more. (Don’t look at us like that, it was a huge part of his endorsement speech; it’s basically the only thing he talked, or seems to care, about.) There’s something weirdly fitting about the track pick, not because anyone involved is being particularly heroic here, but because “My Hero” is the exact lazy choice one aging dad would play for another because he helped him shave 4 strokes off of his handicap in league play, which is basically what’s happening here, except on a “decide the fate of nations” scale. It’s so “first thought, best thought, no further thought” that we half-suspect Trump picked it himself.

Anyway, Foo Fighters haven’t gotten litigious or anything yet, but they did make it extremely clear that they do not enjoy the song’s inclusion in this tender moment between two very leathery men, answering a question on Twitter about whether they approved the song for use with a blunt “No.” They then went back and posted a screenshot of the exchange to make sure everyone who went looking would see it, headlined with a clearly annoyed “Let us be clear.”