Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter publicly rebuked the White House on Tuesday after officials posted a social media video set to her song “Juno.”
The video, shared on the White House’s official account on X, featured a montage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers pursuing and detaining individuals. Over the footage played the suggestive lyrics from Carpenter’s track: “Wanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?”
Carpenter quickly responded on X, calling the video “evil and disgusting” and telling the administration to stop using her work. “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda,” she wrote.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed the criticism. “We won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country,” Jackson said in a statement. “Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”
Carpenter’s team declined further comment, referring inquiries back to her original post.
The clash marks the latest in a series of disputes between artists and the Trump administration over unauthorized use of intellectual property in government messaging.
Just a day earlier, publisher Kids Can Press denounced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the children’s character Franklin the Turtle in a mock book-cover image titled “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.” The publisher said the depiction contradicted the character’s long-standing association with “kindness, empathy, and inclusivity.”
The Department of Homeland Security has also faced repeated criticism. In September, DHS used the “Pokémon” theme song and related imagery in a social media video; Nintendo later clarified it had not authorized the use. The video remained on the agency’s X account as of Tuesday.
That same week, DHS removed another video after comedian and podcaster Theo Von objected to the use of an audio clip of him, noting he had not approved its inclusion.
The pattern continued through the fall. In October, MGMT said DHS used their song “Little Dark Age” in what the band described as a “propaganda video,” prompting a takedown request. In November, Olivia Rodrigo demanded DHS stop pairing her music with enforcement clips, calling the videos “racist, hateful propaganda.” Her track was subsequently removed from the post, though the video remains online. Photo by Justin Higuchi, Wikimedia commons.