In a fiery statement shared with multiple media outlets, Sinéad O’Connor’s estate on Monday blasted Donald Trump’s use of the late singer’s most famous song, Nothing Compares 2 U, at recent campaign stops.
“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,” reads the joint statement from the singer’s estate and the British music label Chrysalis Records.
“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 says, calling it “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’”.
“As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately,” the statement says.
A great many artists or their estates have condemned Trump’s use of their music over the years, including the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, the Smiths, Black Sabbath, Rihanna and others.
O’Connor released her cover of Nothing Compares 2 U, originally written by Prince, in 1990. The smash hit garnered O’Connor global success and a No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
O’Connor died of natural causes on July 26, 2023, at the age of 56, a year and a half after the death of her 17-year-old son, Shane O’Connor.