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Backstreet Boys to Trump: Don’t Use ‘I Want It That Way’

After GOP candidate used hit song at event.

The Backstreet Boys, the popular boy band from the ’90s that has since taken up residency in Las Vegas, are now the latest musical act to get pissed off at the Trump campaign.

On Wednesday, multiple reporters began noting that the loudspeakers at the Donald Trump rally in Ocala, Florida, were playing the Backstreet Boys hit “I Want It That Way.” (The song was played at the Trump event multiple times, apparently.)

The inclusion of the BSB track left some observers scratching their heads, as this appeared to be a new addition to the Trump campaign playlist. For its part, Backstreet is not happy.

“[The Backstreet Boys] did not approve this and we are not associated with the Trump camp,” Steven Trachtenbroit, a publicist for the group, emailed The Daily Beast on Wednesday afternoon.

(Mark down this day, 10/12/2016, as the date that the Backstreet Boys were forced to publicly disassociate themselves from the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump…)

Many, many other recording artists have issued similar statements and have asked Trump to stop using their songs on his campaign-trail playlists, which Trump reportedly curates himself. As the Rolling Stones themselves have discovered, there is very little bands can do to stop Team Trump from blasting their songs at rallies and campaign events. BSB will just have to have it that way, whether they want it or not.

—Asawin Suebsaeng

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Asawin SuebsaengSenior Political Reporter

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