Overview
- The White House posted a short TikTok on Thursday that set footage of U.S. military strikes to Katy Perry’s 2010 hit “Firework,” timing the “boom, boom, boom” lyric to explosions and captioning the clip “Iran has been warned.”
- Perry said on X on Saturday that she was “deeply appalled and angry,” that she had not been asked or given permission, and that using the song to soundtrack violence was a “complete violation” of its message.
- The incident follows a string of recent objections from artists including Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Kesha who have said the administration used their music on official social posts without consent.
- Reporting notes the dispute is chiefly reputational and ethical because questions about licensing, platform policy and rights ownership vary by case and have not produced a public legal resolution.
- As of the latest reports the White House had not issued a public reply, and the episode is likely to prompt renewed scrutiny of how government accounts use copyrighted music on social platforms.