Ariana Grande rebukes White House for using her music in barbaric and inhumane ICE video
Ariana Grande has rebuked Donald Trump’s White House over the use of her music in a video documenting the detention of immigrants.
Earlier this week, the White House posted a montage of ICE agents handcuffing and detaining people, with the caption “Bye-bye 👋 President Trump has delivered the most secure border in history”. It was soundtracked by Grande’s 2024 song Bye.
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Grande commented on the post: “Please do not use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense.” The music has since been removed.
Grande is the latest in a long line of artists who have condemned the White House for using their music, often paired with ICE-related or pro-Trump content on social media.
Sabrina Carpenter called a video that used her music “evil and disgusting … do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda”. When the White House used her song Hold My Hand after it became a popular meme format, Jess Glynne said she felt “sick” and added that her music was “never about division or hate”.
In October 2025, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video of himself flying a fighter jet and pouring brown effluent over protesters from the anti-Trump No Kings movement, to a soundtrack of Kenny Loggins’ Top Gun hit Danger Zone. Loggins asked for it to be removed and said, “I can’t imagine why anybody would want their music used or associated with something created with the sole purpose of dividing us.”
These, along with the Grande incident and many others, are a calculated ploy by the White House to enrage often left-leaning musicians: a campaign of trolling by an administration alive to the soft power of social media.
When asked by Variety for comment about its use of music by Taylor Swift in a November 2025 video, the White House replied: “We made this video because we knew fake news media brands like Variety would breathlessly amplify them. Congrats, you got played.”
Chart-topping R&B star SZA, whose music was also used by the White House against her wishes, highlighted the practice, writing: “White House rage baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK ..inhumanity +shock and aw tactics ..Evil n Boring.”
Grande is meanwhile preparing the release of her eighth studio album, Petal, on 31 July. Its lead single Hate That I Made You Love Me is currently the most-streamed song daily on Spotify globally, and shot straight to the top of the charts in the UK and US in its opening week.
