Ariana Grande at the Golden Globes earlier this yearAriana Grande has taken aim at Donald Trump and his administration over a new video depicting border patrol agents making arrests which included a snippet of her song.
Earlier this week, the Thank U, Next singer spoke out about a video posted on the White House’s TikTok account with the caption: “Bye-bye. President Trump has delivered the most secure border in history.”
Multipleoutletshave reported that the video initially featured Ariana’s 2024 song Bye to soundtrack the video, with the Grammy winner writing in the comments: “Please do not use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson later responded (via BBC News): “What’s actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens.”
Interestingly, both Ariana’s comment and the use of her song in the White House’s video now appear to have been erased.
Donald TrumpThe Wicked star isn’t the only musician to have spoken out about the Trump administration using their songs on social media without permission, though.
Just last week, Olivia Rodrigo said she’d found it “deeply disturbing” to see her song being used in a similar White House video to Ariana’s.
“The fact it was my song in there made me feel even more enraged,” she told Dazed. “What they’re doing is so awful and barbaric and cruel. I am really sad to be in a country that thinks that’s OK.”
Last year, Sabrina Carpenter branded another such video featuring an unauthorised use of her hit Manchild “evil and disgusting”, telling the White House not to “ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda”.
Meanwhile, in response to controversy over a similar clip featuring a Taylor Swift song, a White House official said: “We made this video because we knew fake news media brands […] would breathlessly amplify them. Congrats, you got played.”
