Twitter Removes Marjorie Taylor Greene Video With ‘Still D.R.E.’ Soundtrack After Dr. Dre’s Lawyer Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter

Chris Willman
·4 min read
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UPDATED: Twitter has removed a video embedded by Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in a tweet that had Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” as its soundtrack, after the superstar producer’s attorney sent the congresswoman a cease-and-desist letter. Greene’s tweet remained, but the video had been replaced by the message: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

Earlier in the day, Dr. Dre — aka Andre Young — had made his feelings known about Greene using his classic song as the accompaniment to a new video in which she celebrated her part in helping get Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally elected as speaker of the House.

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“I don’t license my music to politicians, especially someone as divisive and hateful as this one,” the superstar producer told TMZ Monday morning.

Later in the day Monday, TMZ obtained and posted a cease-and-desist letter that Howard King, an attorney for Dr. Dre — aka Andre Young — sent to Greene, saying, “The use of ‘Still D.R.E.’ without permission constitutes copyright infringement,” followed by the citation of a specific passage in the copyright code. “One might expect that, as a member of Congress, you would have a passing familiarity with the laws of this country,” King added.

Before the cease-and-desist letter was sent, Greene mocked Dre as someone who glorified the “thug life” in a statement to TMZ, saying she deliberately used only the instrumental intro of the song and not any lyrical portions. “While I appreciate the creative chord progression,” Greene said, “I would never play your words of violence against women and police officers, and your glorification of the thug life and drugs.”

Greene also told TMZ that her account was locked by Twitter at some point in the morning. By evening, she was back on the app, posting about Joe Biden’s classified documents.

Greene’s self-promotional video immediately became the subject of derision when she posted it earlier Monday morning, with the political website Mediaite calling it “bizarre” and saying it “left many scratching their heads.” The video starts with slow-motion video of her triumphantly walking through the halls of Congress as the familiar opening chords of the D.R.E./Snoop Dogg classic kick in. The video eventually includes shots taken on the House floor of Greene appearing to text with “DT” — aka Donald Trump — in her attempts to influence Republican holdouts who were refusing to vote for McCarthy as a four-day stalemate continued.

“It’s time to begin.. and they can’t stop what’s coming,” Greene posted as the caption to the D.R.E.-soundtracked video montage.

Among the mockers was Republican gadfly Rick Wilson, who quote-tweeted Greene’s video with his own caption: “ChatGPT, show me an example of peak cringe.”

Even before Greene’s first triumphant appearance in the video, it begins with a shot of a sign bearing the words “There are two genders, male and female!,” a subject that Greene apparently considers germane to the fight for the speaker’s gavel. Much of the rest of the nearly two-minute video consists of slo-mo footage of the politician getting into elevators, riding elevators and getting out of elevators, all set to Dr. Dre’s suspenseful music. The video ends with a news announcer remarking upon how Greene rushed down to take a selfie with McCarthy following his victory speech, a selfie that “may have been his first act as speaker.”

“Still D.R.E.,” one of the most famous hip-hop songs of all time, was originally released in 1999 and returned to the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022 after it was used in the Super Bowl halftime show.

In his letter to Greene, attorney King — of the firm King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano — wrote, “It’s possible, though, that laws governing intellectual property are a little too arcane and insufficiently populist for you to have really spent much time on. We’re writing because we think an actual lawmaker should be making laws, not breaking laws, especially those embodied in the constitution by the founding fathers.”

King concludes the message to the congresswoman by asking for “written confirmation that you have complied with these demands” by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

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