Trump has started a meme fight with Nickelback and the band is winning

It's 2019 and in a giant plot twist the band Nickelback has found itself at a pivotal moment in its career.

After years of being ridiculed for simply not being so great, I guess, Nickelback has been given the chance to stand up to the President of the United States. Whether the Canadian rock band will take advantage of this golden opportunity, however, remains unclear.

In case you missed the saga, on Wednesday night Trump ended a long, stressful day of defending his controversial phone call with the President of Ukraine and hoping he won't be impeached by tweeting a Nickelback meme about 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The meme included a parodied clip from the band's "Photograph" music video, along with part of the song, but within 12 hours the video had been removed due to "a report by the copyright owner."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

According to the official music video for "Photograph," the 2007 copyright belongs to Warner Music Group. It’s likely that the label — not the actual band Nickelback — had Trump's video disabled because they own the rights to the recording, but that remains unclear. However, a Twitter spokesperson told Mashable, "per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives."

At the time of writing this article Nickelback's official Twitter account has not issued a statement about Trump's tweet. Maybe, just maybe, if Nickelback publicly condemns the controversial president's tweet about a fellow 2020 candidate in attempt to distract from his own impeachment, they will qualify as genuinely cool.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Per Lumen, an online database that tracks copyright claims and notices, Warner Music Group sent Twitter a takedown notice on Wednesday.

While it doesn't appear that Nickelback itself requested the video be removed, the band is joining the list of musical artists whose songs Trump has been asked not to use for his political material on social media or at rallies.

Remember earlier this year when Trump tweeted a 2020 campaign video set to music set to music from The Dark Knight Rises and it was removed for copyright reasons?

Other people who haven't been cool with Trump using their music include Rihanna, R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Paul Rodgers, Queen, and more.

The Nickelback song may have been taken down on Twitter, but Trump's meme has also been uploaded to the White House YouTube channel and the video was live as of 11:30 a.m. ET.

As of 11:46 a.m. ET, however, the video appears to have been removed from YouTube because it contained copyrighted content owned by Warner Music Group.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The Associated Press' Zeke Miller noted on Twitter that since the Nickelback meme appears on the same White House channel responsible for sharing national news updates and broadcasting conferences it was likely produced by the White House itself, which would make it a taxpayer-funded video.

What a time to be an American taxpayer.

UPDATE: Oct. 3, 2019, 11:27 a.m. EDT Updated to note that Trump's Nickelback meme has been uploaded to the official White House YouTube channel.

UPDATE: Oct. 3, 2019, 11:48 a.m. EDT Updated to note that Trump's Nickelback meme has been removed from the official White House YouTube channel.

UPDATE: Oct. 3, 2019, 2:01 p.m. EDT Updated with confirmation that Warner Music Group sent a DMCA notice to Twitter.