Sabrina Carpenter slams White House for using her song in ‘evil and disgusting’ social media video
Pop star Sabrina Carpenter slammed the White House on Tuesday after it posted a video using her song “Juno.”
The video on the official X account of the White House featured a montage of clips appearing to show Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers chasing down and handcuffing people. The lyrics “Wanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?” from “Juno” play over the video.
“this video is evil and disgusting,” Carpenter wrote in response to the video. “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
When asked for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “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. Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”
When asked for further comment, Carpenter’s team directed NBC News to her post on X.
It is not the first time the administration of President Donald Trump has been criticized for using music or intellectual property in social media posts.
On Monday, the publisher of Franklin the Turtle condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “violent” use of the character in the image of a mock book cover featuring the cartoon reptile with the title “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.”
“Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity,” the publishing house Kids Can Press wrote in a statement on X. “We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values.”
In September, the Department of Homeland Security used the “Pokémon” television show theme song “Gotta Catch ‘Em All,” and imagery from the cartoon series, in a social media video similar to the one with Carpenter’s music. Nintendo, the company that owns the Pokémon franchise, said it was “not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property.”
The video was still up on the DHS account on X as of Tuesday.
That same week, DHS took down a social media video that included a clip of podcaster and comedian Theo Von saying, “Heard you got deported, dude, bye!”
At the time, Von called out DHS’ use of his snippet on X, writing: “Yooo DHS i didnt approve to be used in this.”
“I know you know my address so send a check,” Von added.
“And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos,” he said. “When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!”
DHS removed the video after Von’s response.
In October, rock band MGMT said it was aware that their song “Little Dark Age” was being used in what it called a “propaganda video” posted by DHS. The band said it “has issued a takedown request for the unauthorized use of their music.”
And in November, after DHS used Olivia Rodrigo’s “all-american b—” as the soundtrack to yet another social media video of agents rounding up people, Rodrigo commented on the post demanding the agency stop using her music.
“don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda,” Rodrigo wrote in a comment on the Instagram post, according to a screenshot captured by Deadline.
While the video is still up on the DHS Instagram account, Rodrigo’s comment appears to have been deleted and her song removed from the post.
