Sabrina Carpenter has publicly condemned the Donald Trump administration after the White House used her song Juno to soundtrack a social media video promoting ICE arrests.
The 20-second clip, posted Monday across the White House’s X and TikTok accounts, begins with footage of people protesting ICE raids before cutting to a rapid montage of agents chasing and detaining individuals alleged to be undocumented immigrants.
The video is edited to Carpenter’s now-viral lyric from Juno: ‘Have you ever tried this one? Bye-bye.’ The caption repeats the line, punctuated with a waving-heart-eyes emoji.
Carpenter wasted no time distancing herself from the message, writing on X: ‘This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.’
The White House’s video is referencing the playful connotation Juno has taken on thanks to Carpenter’s own staging of the song throughout her recent Short ’n Sweet tour.
The singer incorporated a comedic ‘arrest’ gag using pink prop handcuffs, often locking up a surprised audience member or celebrity guest. Another viral moment in the show involved Carpenter teasing the crowd with a different sex position inspired pose each night, punctuated by her repeated line, ‘Have you ever tried… this one?’
The backlash arrives amid a growing tension between popular artists and Trump’s White House, which has repeatedly used chart-topping music in immigration enforcement videos without securing permission.
Just weeks ago, Olivia Rodrigo blasted the administration for using her song All-American Bitch in a Department of Homeland Security Instagram post depicting ICE officers tackling and deporting people.
‘Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda,’ Rodrigo wrote. That DHS video encouraged viewers to ‘LEAVE NOW and self-deport’ using a government app.
Other musicians have sounded alarms as well. Kenny Loggins recently criticised Trump for using his song Danger Zone beneath an AI-generated video depicting the president dumping waste onto anti-Trump protestors.
Whether the White House will pull the video using Carpenter’s song remains to be seen, but it’s clear that musicians are no longer staying silent about their work being used to promote hateful agendas.
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