Fact check: Have other artists sued Fox News personalities for similar uses of music or alleged defamation in 2024–2025?

1. Artists vs. Campaigns and Musicians: Copyright Claims That Echo Loudly

The corpus shows multiple copyright lawsuits in 2024 where artists or rights holders alleged unauthorized uses of music, but these actions predominantly targeted musicians and political campaigns rather than Fox News personalities. A Tempo Music Investments complaint from September 2024 accused Miley Cyrus and others of copying Bruno Mars’ song, alleging substantial similarity and copyright infringement in a commercially released track ^[1]. Separately, litigation against the Trump campaign resulted in a preliminary injunction in September 2024 that enjoined the campaign’s use of Isaac Hayes’ song, signaling courts’ willingness to protect songwriters from unlicensed political uses ^[2]. Reporting in September 2024 also documents that the Trump campaign faced multiple suits from musical estates and artists — including claims by Jack and Meg White — for campaign videos and uses of music without synchronization licenses ^[3]. These cases underscore a pattern of artists litigating against political actors and entertainers over music use during 2024.

2. Fox News and Defamation Litigation: Major 2025 Suits, Not Musical Copyright Battles

The provided materials indicate that notable defamation suits involving Fox News emerged in 2025, but they came from political figures and public officials rather than performing artists suing hosts over music use. In June 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a $787 million defamation suit against Fox News, a high‑profile legal strategy that addresses broadcast content and alleged reputational harm rather than claims over musical synchronization or sampling ^[4]. An August 2025 article frames defamation litigation against Fox News around the network’s role in promoting election falsehoods, again centering on political and reputational claims rather than artists’ copyright grievances ^[5]. A 2024–2025 court filing, Shaikh v. Fox News Network, appears in the docket records but does not establish a broader trend of musicians suing Fox personalities for music use within the cited materials ^[6]. The discrete focus of these suits on defamation and election‑related speech distinguishes them from the concurrent wave of copyright litigation involving artists.

3. Where the Evidence Shows Overlap — And Where It Doesn’t

Comparing the copyright suits of 2024 with the defamation suits of 2025 highlights limited overlap: artists brought successful claims and injunctions related to unauthorized political uses of songs, yet the materials do not document artists suing Fox News figures for similar music use or alleging defamation tied to music disputes. For example, Isaac Hayes’ estate secured an injunction against campaign use in 2024, demonstrating legal protections for songwriters against political misappropriation of songs ^[2]. Meanwhile, the prominent 2025 defamation actions against Fox News by figures like Governor Newsom focus on broadcast statements and purported misinformation rather than music licensing or sampling disputes ^{[4] [5]}. The absence of documented artist‑initiated suits naming Fox News personalities for music use in these sources suggests distinct legal arenas — copyright enforcement against campaigns and artists, and defamation suits against media organizations — rather than a single trend of musicians litigating Fox hosts over music.

4. Diverse Perspectives and Possible Agendas in the Documents

The materials reflect different interests and legal strategies: artist plaintiffs pursue copyright and licensing claims to protect commercial and creative rights, while political plaintiffs pursue defamation claims to address reputational harm from broadcast statements. Reporting on the Trump campaign suits emphasizes unauthorized synchronization and estate rights ^[3], whereas coverage of Newsom’s suit and broader defamation litigation emphasizes accountability for news programming and electoral misinformation ^{[4] [5]}. Parties bringing suits have identifiable motivations: music rights holders seek remedies for unlicensed use and potential damages, and political plaintiffs seek large damages and public redress for perceived misinformation. These distinct agendas shape the types of defendants targeted — campaigns and entertainers in 2024 copyright cases, and a major news network in 2025 defamation litigation.

5. Bottom Line: What the Record Permits Us to Conclude

Based on the supplied documents, the clear and supported conclusion is that artists did file prominent copyright suits in 2024 against musicians and political campaigns, and high‑value defamation suits against Fox News emerged in 2025 from public officials, but the evidence does not demonstrate a series of artists suing Fox News personalities specifically for music use or for defamation tied to music within 2024–2025 ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}. The record shows parallel legal activity in adjacent domains — music copyright enforcement and media defamation claims — without the provided sources documenting a direct convergence of artists suing Fox hosts over musical uses during that timeframe.