Neil Young: $10 Million Lawsuit Over Trump Rally Music

Neil Young is back in court against Donald Trump's political action committee.

The suit, filed Monday in the US district court for the eastern district of Virginia, seeks $10 million in damages from Trump 47 Committee Inc.

It cites a 12 October rally in Ohio where the committee played 'Rockin' in the Free World' as walk-up music, plus other rallies designed to encourage Republican votes in the upcoming mid-term elections.

The filing also seeks an injunction barring further public performances of the song.

This marks the second time Young has sued a Trump organization over the same track.

In 2020 he sued Donald J Trump for President Inc, and Trump settled, promising, according to the new suit, that his organization 'would never again use Rockin' in the Free World without a license and permission from Young'.

Young's lawyers argue the continued use of the 1989 song implies he backs the president, stating in the suit that Young 'has suffered damage to his reputation and brand as a result of the implication that he supports Donald J Trump in any way'.

The filing describes 'Rockin' in the Free World' as 'a blistering anthem that contrasts the hollow promises of American political rhetoric with the harsh realities faced by the poor, homeless and forgotten' and concludes that 'the song is the opposite of everything that Donald J Trump stands for'.

Young has repeatedly criticized Trump in writings on his website.

In 2025 he released a protest song about the administration called 'Big Crime', which includes the lines 'Got to get the fascists out / Got to clean the White House out .. no more money to the fascists, the billionaire fascists.'

The Trump administration has not yet responded to the suit.

Young's suit follows a pattern of disputes over music used by the Trump presidency; in August, Taylor Swift had her song 'August' removed from a video celebrating the Trump presidency.