Fact Check: Did Oliver Anthony issue a cease and desist to Tim Walz over the use of his smash hit song? Viral post debunked

Claims of singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony issuing a cease-and-desist order against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, went viral on X on August 11, 2024. It was reported that the former decided to do so after the latter used his song Rich Men North of Richmond, without his knowledge. However, it is worth noting that the speculation is not true. Anthony is not suing Walz.

X user @harparr1 was one of the many who took to the social networking site to share an image of Oliver Anthony and a headline that read, “Oliver Anthony Files Cease and Desist Against Tim Walz: “Stop Using My Song.”” The tweet also read:

“They have some nerve just picking a song and running with it. “They never asked my permissions,” said Anthony. “And I certainly don’t approve.” Your thoughts?”

At the time of writing this article, the tweet had amassed over 2000 views.

Despite the headline appearing to be real, there is no evidence of Anthony issuing a cease-and-desist against Walz that was made available online at the time of writing this article.

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Oliver Anthony is not suing Tim Walz

There has been no evidence of Tim Walz blasting Oliver Anthony’s song in a public forum so far. Furthermore, no legal documents for the cease-and-desist order were available online either.

Neither of the parties involved publicly, have commented on the matter yet.

The claims of the cease-and-desist originated from America’s Last Line of Defense, a website and social media page that specializes in satirical news. Their Facebook account has been labeled “satire/parody” as well.” The account's description reads:

“The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real.”

Hence, it is safe to say that the rumors of Anthony issuing a cease-and-desist against Walz are untrue. Meanwhile, the Facebook account, America- Love It or Leave It, a subsidiary of America’s Last Line of Defense, continued to spread misinformation online.

Although Tim Walz did not steal Oliver Anthony’s song, the latter revealed that it was stolen by Fox News. The Rich Men North of Richmond track was played by the Conservative news outlet as a Republican was questioned during a presidential primary debate in August 2023. Speaking about the song being used by the news outlet, Anthony said on YouTube:

“It was funny seeing it at the presidential debate, because it’s like, I wrote that song about those people.”

Anthony garnered immense traction online last year following the release of his hit track which happened to climb to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song primarily explored the theme of the working class being taken advantage of.

The song managed to accumulate over 160 million views on YouTube, with Anthony also once revealing, that he does not have to work another day for the rest of his life following his song going viral online.