Musicians vs Trump: Why singer Sabrina Carpenter is lashing out at White House

There is a long line of musicians who do not want to be associated with the Trump administration, and Sabrina Carpenter is the latest among them. 

The “Espresso” singer has disavowed the use of her hit song “Juno” in a White House video that shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents tackling people and clipping handcuffs onto detainees. She has called the montage of ICE arrests “evil and disgusting”.  

We explain the controversy.  

Carpenter’s tiff with the Trump administration 

The White House released a video on Tuesday (December 2) featuring Carpenter’s 2024 song “Juno”. The clip begins with a scene of protest and then turns into a montage of individuals being chased, captured and handcuffed by ICE agents. Only some have their faces blurred. 

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The caption reads, “Have you tried this one?” in reference to the viral lyrics from the song that talks about sex positions.  

Carpenter was not pleased. Hours after discovering that her hit “Juno” had been used in a White House clip to endorse the immigration crackdown, she hit out at the US government. She wrote in response to the White House post, “This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.” 

White House responds to Carpenter  

The US administration defended the video, saying that the clip was meant to highlight ongoing operations targeting violent offenders. Responding to Carpenter’s comment, White House referred to her 2024 album “Short n’ Sweet” and her recent single “Manchild” in a statement. 

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologise for deporting dangerous criminals, illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country.”

“Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?” Jackson added, referring to Carpenter’s “Manchild” lyrics. 

Trump faces the music…

This is not the first instance where the Trump administration has used viral songs to hype up the president or promote his policies on social media.   

In recent months, Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophella” was used in a video featuring Trump's images with military forces. This, despite POTUS’ several social media posts slamming the pop star. While Swift refrained from comments, many of her fans were not happy.

Few musicians have kept mum in this regard.

In November, pop singer Olivia Rodrigo also condemned the Department of Homeland Security’s use of her 2023 song “All-american bitch” to soundtrack a video encouraging “undocumented people” to voluntarily leave the US, according to the Guardian. In a now-deleted post on social media, Rodrigo wrote, “Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.” 

In October, singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins lashed out at the administration for using his song “Danger Zone” in an AI-generated video that depicted Trump wearing a crown and flying in a jet labelled “King Trump”. It showed the aircraft dumping what appeared to be human faeces on protesters in New York City, which coincided with nationwide “No Kings” protests against the administration’s policies.

Loggins said that “he did not authorise the use of the song for the video”. “Nobody asked me for my permission, which I would have denied, and I request that my recording on this video is removed immediately,” he said in an official statement on his website.  

In 2024, Beyoncé threatened a cease and desist order to the Trump campaign after it used her song “Freedom” in a video, according to Politico. It was later used as a campaign song for former Vice President Kamala Harris.  

Rock band Foo Fighters and Swedish band ABBA have also demanded that Trump’s team refrain from using their music for promotional purposes. Other artists who have objected to the US administration using their music are Rihanna, Adele, Guns N’ Roses, Queen, the Rolling Stones, R.E.M, Aerosmith, and Linkin Park, among others.

With inputs from agencies