Tom Petty's family slams Trump in scathing response to his music being used at Tulsa rally

The late, great Tom Petty passed on three years ago.

So perhaps that’s why Donald Trump thought it would be safe to use his music as the backdrop to what was supposed to be a triumphant comeback rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Of course, we now know it didn’t turn out quite that way.

Trump spoke to a half-empty stadium, with only 6,200 filling seats in a 19,000 capacity venue.

And as if that wasn’t humiliating enough, the president has been slapped with a cease and desist letter from the Petty family after he used the song “I Won’t Back Down” at the Tulsa event.

They also publicly denounced Trump in a statement published on Tom Petty’s official Twitter account.

The family wrote:

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 or 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 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.

The note is signed by Tom Petty’s ex-wife, their two daughters, and his second wife.

Trump is yet to comment but it’s safe to say he won’t be happy.

As many have pointed out, this is just one of several aspects of the rally that didn’t go as planned.

Maybe "Don't Do Me Like That" would have been a better pick, all things considered?