Tom Petty's daughters Adria and Annakim and two of his former wives, Dana and Jane, came together to denounce Donald Trump's use of the late rock icon's track “I Won't Back Down” at Saturday's under-attended Tulsa rally.
“Trump was in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind,” the family wrote in a message posted to social media.
“Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind,” the message continued. “Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate. He liked to bring people together.”
“Tom wrote this song for the underdog, for the common man and for everyone,” said the Pettys. “We want to make it clear that we believe everyone is free to vote as they like, think as they like, but the Petty family doesn't stand for this. We believe in America and we believe in democracy. But Donald Trump is not representing the noble ideals of either. We would hate for fans that are marginalized by this administration to think we were complicit in this usage. Concurrently, we have issued a cease and desist notice to the Trump campaign.”
