Why Neil Young Supports Bernie Sanders but Is Cool With Donald Trump Using His Song

“Once the music goes out, everybody can use it for anything,” rocker says

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Canadian rocker Neil Young isn’t a Donald Trump supporter, but that doesn’t mean he minds the presumptive GOP nominee using his music at rallies.

Although Young’s management company released a statement last June that Trump was not authorized to use the song “Rockin’ in the Free World” during rallies, Young has now told Reuters that he had no problem with it, he just would’ve liked to have been asked.

“The fact that I said I was for Bernie Sanders and then he didn’t ask me to use ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ doesn’t mean that he can’t use it,” said Young.

“He actually got a license to use it,” Young added. “I mean, he said he did and I believe him. So I got nothing against him. You know, once the music goes out, everybody can use it for anything. But if the artist who made it is saying you never spoke to them, if that means something to you, you probably will stop playing it. And it meant something to Donald and he stopped.”

Young is a Bernie Sanders supporter even though Hillary Clinton seems to be taking the lead in the Democratic presidential race.

“He’s the only one talking about the issues, about issues that matter to me, the issues on my mind — problems of corporate control of democracy and everything slipping away and not being able to have six major companies owning all the media in the United States,” Young said about Sanders.

Other artists have not been too pleased with Trump using their songs at campaign rallies and events.

An Adele spokesperson told the U.K.’s Independent that the singer “has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning” after Trump regularly played her song “Rolling in the Deep” on his campaign trail.

The Rolling Stones also ripped the GOP candidate for using their song “Start Me Up,” making it abundantly clear that it doesn’t want to serve as the soundtrack to Trump’s bid for the presidency.

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