THE FAMILY OF late singer Tom Petty have objected to US President Donald Trump’s use of the song I Won’t Back Down at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma last night. 

In a statement posted on Petty’s Twitter account this morning, his family said Trump was “in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind”.

Petty’s daughters Adria and Annakim, widow Dana and first wife Jane continued: “Both the late Tom Petty and his family 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,” the statement continued.

“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.”

The song, first released in 1989, became one of the singer’s signature hits. Petty died from an accidental drug overdose in October 2017.