Guns N’ Roses, Prince, and Grace Jones Snubbed ‘Melania’ Documentary While These Legends Said Yes

The Amazon documentary Melania is already one of the most controversial films of the year. Many have dismissed the film as propaganda, while others have thrown their support behind it. Even the film’s music has caused a stir. Some artists outright refused to let the film use their songs. Here are three artists who said no to the film, and others who said yes to it.

Some artists said no to the use of their music in the ‘Melania’ documentary 

Donald Trump frequently clashes with artists who do not want him to use their music. Marc Beckman, a producer of Melania, said three artists refused to let the film use their music.

“There was music that we tried to get, but sadly, there were politics to it,” he told Variety. “For example, the guys from Guns N’ Roses split down the middle politically. There was a beautiful song we wanted to use, and one of the guys — I don’t want to name, it’s not fair — said, ‘You got it. Go.’ And the other one was basically like, ‘There’s just no way.” We needed everybody’s approval to get it in the film. So Guns N’ Roses was definitely a disappointment for us; we all have a lot of respect for Guns N’ Roses.”

Grace Jones also did not want her music in the film for political reasons.

“There was a song that we wanted to use from Grace Jones; obviously, also a tremendous amount of respect for her,” Beckman said. “She apparently couldn’t get over the political hurdle, notwithstanding the fact that the film is not a political film. So that was disappointing, too.”

Prince’s estate also refused to let them use his songs.

“Literally we were ready to go, and this lawyer that manages the estate was like, ‘Prince would never want his song associated with Donald Trump,’” Beckam said. “And we’re like, ‘But it’s not a Donald Trump film! He comes into the movie once in a while, but this is all about Melania. It’s not political.’ And that guy blocked it.”

Others have allowed the film to use their songs

The Rolling Stones’ song “Gimme Shelter” appears in the documentary. Beckman said Mick Jagger gave his blessing for them to use the song. 

“Mick Jagger was actually involved,” he said. “He gave us his blessing, and we were thrilled about that one. We worked very close with them on that.”

The Stones don’t have that song as part of their catalog, which reps for the group reiterated to Variety. The band has also warned Trump to stop using their songs in the past.

Songs by Tears for Fears, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson also appear in the movie.

Beckam also claimed that some artists who were “true freedom fighters in the ‘60s” said they supported Trump and were happy to have their music in the documentary. He claimed that their labels put a stop to this, though.

Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood fought the ‘Melania’ doc over licensing

The documentary also uses music composed for the film Phantom Thread. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood composed the song for the Paul Thomas Anderson film. They have pushed to have the music taken out of the film.

“It’s funny — Radiohead is one of my all-time favorite bands. For them to have come out publicly and distanced themselves, I think that’s just part of the unfortunate time we’re living in,” Beckman said. “We went out and created a nice film that doesn’t get into any kind of political policy or anything like that. The music at that moment is so perfect, honestly, I was so thrilled to be able to use it.”

Beckman said he has no intention of honoring Greenwood’s request to take the music out of the film.