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In October 2018, a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania prompted widespread concern about anti-semitic violence and the influence of right-wing conspiracy theories as police arrested Robert Bowers in connection with that shooting, a man who had posted vehemently anti-semitic slurs and conspiracy theories on social media. Attention also turned to the response of President Donald Trump to the shooting, in which eleven people were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on 27 October. Later that day, President Trump spoke at the annual Future Farmers of America (FFA) convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, and began his speech by talking about the mass shooting in Pittsburgh, calling it a wicked act of mass murder and pure evil: In the days following the shooting and President Trump's response to it, reports emerged that singer/songwriter and music producer Pharrell Williams had been unhappy with another aspect of Trump's appearance at the FFA convention: his alleged use of Williams' song Happy, of which the Hollywood Reporter wrote: For their part, Slate declared in their headline that Trump Played 'Happy' at a Rally Hours After the Pittsburgh Shooting, and Pharrell Is Not OK with It, and stated that the song was played at a rally in Illinois, not Indiana: Williams' letter also formed the basis of segments on the late night shows of Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, both of whom claimed that Trump had been responsible for the use of the song Happy before his speech at the FFA convention in Indianapolis: Analysis It's true that Howard King, a high-profile entertainment lawyer who has represented hugely successful musical artists and acts including Metallica and Dr Dre, did indeed send President Trump a cease and desist letter on behalf of his client Pharrell Williams, accusing Trump of having played the song Happy at a political event in Indiana. King's law firm sent us a copy of the letter, which read as follows: The letter is undoubtedly authentic, and Williams' demand that Trump never use any of his music, on pain of legal action, is real. However, a few significant factual problems exist with the allegations contained in the letter,as well as some of the subsequent news media coverage of it. First, neither the White House nor President Trump himself was responsible for the playing of the song Happy at the FFA convention on 27 October 2018. That decision was made by the organizers of the event (and generally the operators of a venue are the ones responsible for rights clearance and royalty payments associated with the use of music played during events held there). We tracked down video footage which shows that a live, instrumental version of the song Happy (not Pharrell Williams' own recording of it) was played in the auditorium at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, around 25 minutes before President Trump's speech began. The event was streamed live on Facebook by Mercedes Heiner, and the use of Happy can be heard in the first four minutes of that video stream: The allegation contained in Williams' letter, and the subsequent news coverage highlighted above, was that either the White House or Trump himself had played the song or had at least been responsible for its use. This is false: That decision was made by the organizers of the FFA convention. Second, it's not accurate to describe Trump's FFA speech as being part of a rally or political event. He was speaking in his capacity as President of the United States at the annual national FFA convention. The event was organized by the National FFA Organization and President Trump was an invited guest there; it was not a political or partisan rally. The FFA spokesperson also emphasized that point in their response to our questions. Furthermore, some confusion was evident in the reporting about where the song Happy was played. Slate wrote that Trump had been responsible for playing the song at a campaign rally in Illinois, but this does not appear to be true. Trump did speak at a political rally in Murphysboro, Illinois, later on 27 October, but we could find no evidence that the song Happy was played there despite our checking almost two hours of footage covering the period from the build-up to his speech. A viral tweet posted by anti-gun violence activist Shannon Watts falsely claimed that President Trump had walked on stage to the song Happy. This is also false: Trump walked on stage to the song God Bless the U.S.A. by Lee Greenwood, as shown in another live Facebook video recorded by a convention attendee: This was a particularly misleading passage, because although the President did make the comments attributed to him in his interview with Ingraham, absolutely no reference to the song Happy had occurred during the interview up to that point. Rather, President Trump was offering an explanation for why he decided to go ahead with his engagements in Indianapolis and Illinois in the wake of the synagogue shooting:
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