Overview
- The official White House TikTok posted a video this week that set footage of ICE arrests to Ariana Grande's 2024 song "Bye," prompting immediate attention.
- Grande wrote under the post that her music should never be used for the "barbaric, unmenschlich and abscheulichen" clip and her representatives sought removal through rights channels.
- Variety and other outlets report the singer's comment was briefly visible or removed, and the video's audio track was later muted or taken off the clip.
- A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, defended the post's message by saying the administration was denouncing criminal activity by illegal entrants rather than the use of the footage itself.
- The episode joins a string of high-profile artists blocking the Trump administration's unapproved use of songs and may push political social-media teams to change how they license music or rely on popular tracks.