Rising pop star Sabrina Carpenter has slammed a recent video shared by The White House on social media. Calling them out for using her song ‘Juno’ and associating her with the agenda without her consent, the signer called the video ‘evil and disgusting’. It showed the Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials arresting several people with the popular soundtrack in the background.
Replying to this, the Gen-Z pop queen wrote under the post, “This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.” The video posted on the official X (formerly Twitter) account of The White House was captioned, “Have you ever tried this one? Bye-bye.” It reportedly referred to the innuendos made in the song, which involved similar arresting techniques used by ICE agents, reported The Guardian.
As a response, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson continued to reply to Carpenter. The statement read, “Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologise 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?” It referred to Sabrina’s 2024 album ‘Short n’ Sweet and her recent single ‘Manchild.’
Is the dig linked to Taylor Swift?
The netizens were quick to link this backlash to Taylor Swift, and US President Donald Trump’s public declaration of hate towards her. It follows the singers’ most recent collaboration on the title track of Swift’s latest album, ‘Life of a Showgirl’.
Earlier this month, the White House also used the ‘Fate of Ophelia’ track from the album for one of its videos. It served as a background score for Donald Trump’s many social media posts denigrating the billionaire artist. Swift had also endorsed Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election. However, unlike Sabrina Carpenter, the recently-engaged pop icon has chosen not to respond.
However, the leading pop stars are not the only artists whose work has been used in such videos. From Beyoncé to Foo Fighters, several videos have carried the artists’ works for their promotional needs. In fact, Olivia Rodrigo condemned the Department of Homeland Security for using her soundtrack to a video which promoted the voluntary exit of undocumented residents. Calling them out, she responded, “Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda,” in a now-deleted post, earlier this month.