{"id":2910,"date":"2026-06-24T22:36:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2910"},"modified":"2026-06-24T22:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:36:56","slug":"leonard-cohen-estate-objects-to-trumps-promised-use-of-hallelujah-at-freedom-250-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2910","title":{"rendered":"Leonard Cohen Estate Objects to Trump\u2019s Promised Use of \u2018Hallelujah\u2019 at Freedom 250 Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tThe Leonard Cohen estate is objecting to President Donald J. Trump\u2018s promised \u2014 or threatened \u2014 use of the song \u201cHallelujah\u201d ahead of Wednesday night\u2019s Freedom 250 rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2908\">Whitney Houston\u2019s Estate Refutes Oprah\u2019s Claim That Singer Fell Off Talk Show Stage While High: \u2018Inaccurate and Unfair\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe Leonard Cohen Estate has learned that the song \u2018Hallelujah\u2019 is to be performed at a Donald Trump rally on June 24,\u201d says a posting on the late singer\u2019s social media. \u201cThis use is not authorized, and the Estate does not support or approve of this or any similar usage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn a takeoff on Trump\u2019s signature Truth Social sign-off, the Cohen estate\u2019s statement concludes, \u201cThank you for your attention to this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tTrump made a point of declaring nearly three weeks ago that \u201cHallelujah\u201d would be sung at the event, at the same time he first announced that the kickoff to the Great American State Fair would feature as its big-name musical guests Lee Greenwood and Christopher Macchio, the latter of whom is scheduled to sing the oft-used and -abused Cohen classic. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tFurther headlines were made Tuesday when Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI director Kash Patel, announced on her social media that she had been booked to sing the National Anthem at the event, then immediately defended herself against critics, saying she was picked to perform \u201con my own accord\u201d and not because of special connections.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tTrump has used the song \u201cHallelujah\u201d at his rallies before, despite the song being littered with lyrics that could be turned against him, like: \u201cYou don\u2019t really care for music, do ya?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen Trump\u2019s campaign was using the song at campaign rallies in 2024, the estate dryly responded by suggesting that he should use the Cohen song \u201cYou Want It Darker\u201d instead. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2906\">New Trump Tell-All Book Details His Issues With the Ellisons, His Interest in Sydney Sweeney and How Dr. Phil Helped ICE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn the president\u2019s June 4 announcement about what the kickoff event would entail, in which he declared that it would be \u201cthe Greatest Rally, EVER!\u201d and \u201ca Rally to end all Rallies!,\u201d he mocked the many performers who had previously backed out of Freedom 250 concerts. Trump crowed about how superior his hand-picked music choices would be at what was evolving to be more like one of his signature rallies than the \u201cnonpartisan\u201d events initially promised.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cWe don\u2019t want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep \u2014 we\u2019ve told them all to stay home,\u201d Trump wrote at the time. \u201cAll we want is you, me, a few speakers, and the Greatest Music ever played, the same Music you have listened to for years! We will have the fabulous Lee Greenwood introducing me with what has turned out to be one of the Greatest Hits of All Time, \u2018GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tTrump boasted that, besides \u201cHallelujah,\u201d Macchio would sing \u201cNessun Dorma,\u201d \u201cAve Maria\u201d and \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d \u201cNot since the legendary Luciano Pavarotti has there been such a voice!\u201d the president raved. Macchio\u2019s other song picks all have references to religion or deities, whereas the Cohen song is entirely secular in nature, despite the connotations that have been placed on it by some performers as it has become popularized in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAlso scheduled are \u201cthe wonderful U.S. Army Band, \u2018Pershing\u2019s Own,\u2019 and Armed Forces Choir, and \u2018The President\u2019s Own\u2019 United States Marine Band, with the Joint Armed Forces Chorus,\u201d playing \u201call of your favorite Hits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen Trump was using Rufus Wainwright\u2019s cover of \u201cHallelujah\u201d from the \u201cShrek\u201d soundtrack for his rallies in 2024, Wainwright responded by saying that \u201cwitnessing Trump and his supporters commune with this music last night was the height of blasphemy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe rally begins Wednesday evening at 8:30 p.m. ET\/5:30 PT. It can be seen live here.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2904\">Prime Day 2026: Best Home Theater Deals on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Leonard Cohen estate announced its objections to Donald Trump having &#8216;Hallelujah&#8217; performed at Wednesday&#8217;s Freedom 250 rally in Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[877,868,2451],"class_list":["post-2910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-donald-j-trump","tag-freedom-250","tag-leonard-cohen"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Leonard Cohen Estate Objects to Trump\u2019s Promised Use of \u2018Hallelujah\u2019 at Freedom 250 Rally - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2910\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leonard Cohen Estate Objects to Trump\u2019s Promised Use of \u2018Hallelujah\u2019 at Freedom 250 Rally - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Leonard Cohen estate announced its objections to Donald Trump having &#039;Hallelujah&#039; performed at Wednesday&#039;s Freedom 250 rally in Washington.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2910\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-24T22:36:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=2910#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=2910\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"headline\":\"Leonard Cohen Estate Objects to Trump\u2019s Promised Use of \u2018Hallelujah\u2019 at Freedom 250 Rally\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-24T22:36:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=2910\"},\"wordCount\":678,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=2910#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f9ac45a5d3d337096b8fcf1f86d42748.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Donald J. 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