Katy Perry has hit out against Trump’s White House after the official TikTok account used her song “Firework” in a video regarding military strikes.
In the video posted on Thursday (July 23), it includes footage of explosions while lyrics to the 2010 hit plays “Boom, boom, boom / Even brighter than the moon”, along with the caption: “Iran has been warned.”
Taking to X on Saturday (July 25), the singer expressed her anger at her 2010 hit being used without her approval.
“I am deeply appalled and angry to see ‘Firework’ used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes,” Perry wrote.
“I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it. I wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and inner strength for people going through their darkest personal moments. To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponized to soundtrack destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for. My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.”
Indy100 has reached out to the White House for comment.
Perry isn’t the first singer to call out the official White House account for using unauthorised song usage in their social media posts.
The most recent example being Ariana Grande who slammed the White House for using her song “Bye” in a social media post promoting U.S. immigration arrests.
“Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F*** ICE,” she reportedly wrote in the post’s comment section, but in hours the comment was no longer visible.
Grande’s representatives confirmed to Variety that she had posted the comment, but “for some reason it’s not publicly visible.”
In December last year, the White House posted a video of ICE officers arresting people and used SZA’s viral SNL song “Big Boys,” with the caption, “WE HEARD IT’S CUFFING SZN. Bad news for criminal illegal aliens. Great news for America.”
To which SZA hit back, “White House rage-baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK,” calling it “evil n boring.”
In a similar instance, Sabrina Carpenter also slammed the White House for using her track “Juno,” in a video showing people getting chased, held to the ground and arrested by ICE agents.
The ‘Manchild’ singer wrote, “This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
Meanwhile, Olivia Rodrigo spoken out saying she was “disturbed” to see Donald Trump’s administration using her music on social media.
Last year, the White House and Department of Homeland Security shared a joint post on Instagram in a video montage showing ICE deportations, with Rodrigo’s song ‘All-American B***’ playing in the background.
“Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda,” the 23-year-old responded in a since-deleted comment.
In an interview with Dazed last month, Rodrigo said on the matter, “It was so deeply disturbing to see that propaganda, and the fact it was my song in there made me feel even more enraged.”
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