Mick Jagger and Melania Trump at loggerheads over “Gimme Shelter”

Melania Trump and Mick Jagger are at loggerheads over the use of “Gimme Shelter” in the Amazon docufilm dedicated to the First Lady, set in the days leading up to Donald Trump's second inauguration. At the heart of the controversy is the presence of the Rolling Stones track in the opening sequence, filmed at Mar-a-Lago.

According to producer Marc Beckman's statement to Variety, the Rolling Stones frontman was “directly involved” in the deal and had personally approved the use of the track. Beckman claimed the band was solely concerned with the quality of the film, with no political implications, and that after a private screening the musicians were impressed by it.

A version of events that has since been denied. A Rolling Stones spokesperson told The Guardian that the agreement to use “Gimme Shelter” was struck solely between the documentary's producers and Abkco, the company that holds the rights to the song, with no direct involvement from the band or Mick Jagger.

This isn't the first time the band's name has crossed paths with Donald Trump's. In the past, the Rolling Stones have objected to the use of their songs at the former president's rallies, as have other high-profile artists: Guns N’ Roses, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Adele, Queen, Elton John, ABBA, Jack White, Céline Dion, Foo Fighters, and the estates of Prince, Tom Petty and Isaac Hayes.

Beckman also reported that Guns N' Roses, Grace Jones and Prince's estate had also been approached to include other tracks in the documentary's soundtrack, but reportedly declined for political reasons.

Further objections came from Jonny Greenwood, composer of the score for “Il filo nascosto“, and from director Paul Thomas Anderson, who requested the removal of a track from the film, claiming they had not been informed by Universal, the rights holder, about the licensing deal. The track, however, remains in the current version of the documentary. Beckman assured that it “will stay in there forever, regardless of the infrastructure distributing the content.”

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