Tom Petty's family protests 'unauthorized' use of 'I Won't Back Down' at Trump's Tulsa rally

Tom Petty's family has objected to the use of the late rock star's track "I Won't Back Down" at Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa yesterday. In a letter posted to Twitter, four of Petty's relatives — daughters Adria and Annakim, widow Dana, and ex-wife Jane — all protested the track being played at the President's event.

"Tom Petty's song 'I Won't Back Down' was used today at Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, OK.," the message began. "Trump was in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind.

"Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind. 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. 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 an official cease and desist notice to the Trump campaign. Adria, Annakim, Dana and Jane Petty."

The good news for the Petty family? Far fewer people attended Trump's rally than had been expected. Ahead of the event, Trump's campaign boasted that a million people had registered to attend. In the end, just over 6000 supporters turned up to see the President at Tulsa's BOK arena, which has a capacity of 19,000.

Related content:

• Echo in the Canyon music doc includes Tom Petty's final filmed interview
• Tom Petty’s 6 most moving quotes from his final interview