The following week, another pop star was angry that their song was used without their permission in a job advert for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Singer Sabrina Carpenter's song “Juno” became the soundtrack to a Department of Homeland Security promotional video posted on the official White House X account. It featured a montage of videos showing ICE officers chasing, grabbing and handcuffing people in a city similar to Chicago. Lyrics: “Want to try some fancy positions? Have you ever tried this one?” – from the song playing over the frame.
“[T]his video is evil and disgusting” Carpenter published on Tuesday. “Don't ever involve me or my music in your inhuman plans.”
It's too late because DHS has already done this without her knowledge.
Using the work of pop artists without their consent is the only way the White House can supplement its ICE campaign with music videos that people under 50 actually enjoy.
List of luminaries who have condemned the agency's actions or filed legitimate copyright removal requests (Jay-Z had his song “Public Service Announcement” hit from a DHS social media post) reads like a sold-out Coachella lineup: Jay-Z, Olivia Rodrigo, MGMT, Zac Bryan, The Cure, Usher, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It also includes estates and companies that feature Tom Petty's “I Won't Back Down,” the original Pokémon theme song “Gotta Catch 'Em All” and the “Wicked” soundtrack “Defying Gravity” performed by Cynthia Erivo.
As for the meme-driven catalog of bona fide stars and celebrities who expressed gratitude for hearing their work in an ICE detention video? There is no such list.
From the Stones to Springsteen to Swift, GOP campaigns, rallies and election-year ads featured music from artists who didn't want their songs associated with Reagan economics, the Bush administration's Gulf War or Trump's scorched-earth policies. There weren't, and still aren't, many popular artists who openly espouse right-wing ideals. Kid Rock and Lee Greenwood, the latter of whom teamed up with Trump to release the “God Bless the USA” Bible, can't do it all.
The right's strategy was to use the song once, knowing it would likely be followed by a copyright claim, and then avoid further legal action and move on to another artist's work. Call it poaching and run.
But DHS, like the Trump White House, added another element to its scam, cashing in on complaints that followed the theft of popular songs.
Carpenter's response to her song being used without her consent was met with a trolling response from DHS. The department used the singer's own lyrics against her to capitalize on negative attention (a hallmark of MAGA's winning strategy in the attention economy game).
“Here's a short and sweet message to Sabrina Carpenter: We will not apologize for deporting dangerous criminals-murderers, rapists and pedophiles from our country. Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement, referencing Carpenter's recent single “Manchild” and the title of her 2024 album, “Short n' Sweet.”
Crazy idea: The administration could also catch pedophiles and rapists by releasing unredacted copies of Epstein's files. But how to turn this outrage into a “fun” video with a humorous caption?
DHS was forced to remove MGMT's song “Little Dark Age” from an ICE job advertisement after the group filed a removal request. Video released in October showed agents arresting protesters outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon. It was signed: “The end of the Dark Age, the beginning of the Golden Age.”
The White House also used British singer Jess Glynne's 2015 single “Hold My Hand,” a song that recently returned to Jet2 viral holiday adto advance the deportation operation in the summer. DHS posted a snippet of the song on its official social media channels along with the caption: “When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 vacation before deportation. Nothing beats this!”
Glynn and the airline condemned the ad. But by then, DHS had already moved on to the next song by an artist who wanted nothing to do with them.
