Sabrina Carpenter has told the US White House to keep her music out of their “inhumane agenda” after one of her songs was used in a video promoting the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) raids.
“Evil and disgusting” is how Carpenter described the video, which shows ICE officers chasing civilians down on the streets and detaining them in handcuffs, as the lyrics repeat “have you ever tried this one?”.
The 21-second video was set to Carpenter’s song ‘Juno’ from the 2024 album Short n’ Sweet.
The White House post is promoting the Trump administration’s ongoing and widely controversial crackdown on illegal immigration.
In response to Carpenter’s call-out against the video, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson doubled down, using more of her lyrics and saying the administration will not apologise.
“Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country,” Jackson’s statement said. “Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has tried to use female artists’ music to promote its anti-immigration content. The White House has also stitched “all-american bitch” by Olivia Rodrigo, “The Fate of Ophelia” by Taylor Swift and Cynthia Erivo’s singing in Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” song.
In a since deleted comment on social media, Rodrigo similarly called out Trump against using her songs, writing: “Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.”
A long list of musicians who’ve previously objected to Trump’s use of their music include ABBA, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, the Foo Fighters, Beyonce, Adele, Neil Young, Celine Dion and Elton John.
On Monday, the publisher of beloved children’s character Franklin the Turtle also called out the Trump administration’s use of its content to promote anti-immigration and violence. Publisher Kids Can Press condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s post on X depicting Franklin the Turtle aiming a bazooka at boats, with the caption: “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists”.
Since Trump became president for his second term, ten months ago, his administration has authorised mass arrests, incarcerations and deportations that have been called out by numerous human rights experts.