Rolling Stones deny giving ‘blessing’ for their song to be in ‘Melania’: report

Sources close to Mick Jagger dispute a claim by the producer of Melania Trump’s controversial documentary that he and the Rolling Stones were closely involved in their song, “Gimme Shelter,” being used in the film’s soundtrack.

A spokesperson for the legendary band told the Guardian that the deal to use “Gimme Shelter,” in an opening sequence of “Melania,” was made between the film’s producers and the music company ABKCO, which holds the rights to the song. Another source close to Jagger also told the Guardian that people should be skeptical of claims made by producer Marc Beckman in his interview with Variety, because he appears to be focused on trying to promote his movie.

RELATED: Guns N’ Roses stopped ‘Melania’ documentary from using their music

The Guardian report also offered another reason to doubt that the Stones would happily participate in a film celebrating Donald Trump’s wife. The band is among a long list of artists who have objected to their music being played at political rallies for Trump. Those other artists include Guns N’ Roses, Grace Jones, the estate of Prince, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Adele, Queen, REM, Elton John, Abba, Jack White, Céline Dion, the Foo Fighters and the estates of Isaac Hayes and Tom Petty, according to the Guardian.

In his interview with Variety, Beckman made his claims about Jagger and the Stones while trying to address questions about music used in the film, which follows the first lady in the 20 days leading up to Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025.

Amazon MGM Studios spent an estimated $75 million to produce and market the film, which critics have derided as “self-serving” on behalf of the first lady and her husband’s political agenda. The Guardian’s review called the film “horrific,” as it avoided telling the real story an “an ambitious model from out of Slovenia who married a New York real-estate mogul and then found herself cast in the role of a latter-day Eva Braun.”

The soundtrack controversy first erupted after Oscar-nominated director Paul Thomas Anderson and Radiohead musician Jonny Greenwood publicly objected to orchestral music being used in “Melania” that Greenwood had originally composed for Anderson’s 2017 film “Phantom Thread.”

In the Variety interview, Beckman tried to argue that the documentary is a non-political, non-ideological story, so it’s “silly” for anyone to object to having their songs or score included. The film’s supposedly nonpartisan approach is the reason that Jagger was “actually involved” and “gave us his blessing” for the use of “Gimme Shelter,” Beckman claimed.

“We worked very close with them on that,” Beckman said about the Stones’ being OK with using the 1969 song in a sequence set at Mar-a-Lago. The song has become a popular addition to movie soundtracks, largely due to Martin Scorsese using it in three of his films, starting with “Goodfellas.”

“And that wasn’t a political thing,” continued Beckman, a long-time advisor to Donald and Melania Trump, according to The Guardian. “With the Stones, they were just like, ‘Oh, you’re making a nice movie.’ They were like able to get over the hurdle. It’s not politics – it’s just some story about some woman that is going from being a civilian back into the White House, and this movie looks cool and (director Brett Ratner) is doing a cool job and Melania Trump is focused, and let’s do it. We showed it to them and they were impressed.”

Beckman lamented that other artists were not so willing to get over this hurdle, with Guns N’ Roses, Grace Jones and the estate of Prince all refusing on political grounds. Beckman said they were told that the lawyer who manages Prince’s estate said: “Prince would never want his song associated with Donald Trump.”

Beckman said he he told this lawyer and others that “Melania” was “not a Donald Trump film!” He told them at the president “comes into the movie once in a while, but this is all about Melania…. And that guy blocked it. It’s so ridiculous.”

As for the Jonny Greenwood controversy, Variety reported that “everyone,” including the Radiohead guitarist, seems to agree that the ‘Melania’ documentary properly licensed the “Phantom Thread” music from another music company, Focus Gramercy Film Music, which is owned by Universal. According to Variety, Greenwood’s issue is that he had a clause in his contract that mandates he at least be contacted when his music is going to be re-used, though he might have little recourse to stop it from being re-used.