Over the past few months, White House accounts have accused many celebrities of using their music illegally. From Ariana Grande, Céline Dion, Bruce Springsteen, and Sabrina Carpenter, many of the biggest names in the industry have called. Katy Perry now joins the list as the White House recently shared a video on their account with her song, ‘Firework,’ playing in the background. The pop star slammed their decision online to use her song without permission, saying she was “disappointed and angry” about it.
Katy Perry Sues White House for Using Her Song “Firework”
Katy Perry took to her social media account on X (formerly known as Twitter) to express her frustration with the White House using her music in their videos. He called on officials to use the song without permission, adding, “I’m deeply saddened and outraged to see that ‘Firework’ is being used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a way to support wartime videos.”“A few days ago, on July 23, the White House took to their TikTok account online to share a video clip of the missile launch. The video had Perry’s 2010 hit song “Firework” playing in the background, along with chants of “boom, boom, boom.” The video was captioned, “Iran has been warned.” The singer also stated that the song was created at the time as a way to spread hope; however, seeing his music as “weaponized” as he refers to the video, he criticized their decision to use his music. Perry also read, “I wrote this song to be a song of hope, healing, and inner strength for people who are going through the most difficult times. To see a message of self-confidence being elevated into a sound instrument of destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my music stands for. My song is about rallying people, not celebrating war.”
Some celebrities have called out the White House for using their music
Just last month, Ariana Grande’s song, ‘Bye-bye,’ was used by the White House on its TikTok account as the background music for a video showing episodes of ICE police arresting people. The post was made along with the words, “Bye-bye President Trump has delivered the most secure border in history.”The 33-year-old then called out the account for using his music, saying in the post’s comments, “Please don’t use my music for something cruel, inhumane, mean. F***ice.” Following her comments and public backlash, fans later reported that Grande’s song had been left out and removed from the online video.Another example is Kenny Loggins publicly calling out US President Donald Trump for using his song ‘Danger Zone’ in an AI video last year. The singer criticized the president on Instagram and wrote, “I request that my recording of this video be removed immediately. I cannot imagine why anyone would want his music to be used or associated with something that was created with the sole purpose of dividing us.” Many people are trying to tear us apart, and we need to find new ways to be together.Similarly, SZA and Kesha also criticized the White House and the US president for using popular music to gain attention and opinions on their records. Kesha also said, “All these singers are falling for it.” It only gets us attention and we get more reading on our videos because people want to see what they’re talking about.”Some celebrities who have called out the Trump Administration in the past few months for using their music without permission include Linkin Park, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, Céline Dion, Blue Öyster Cult, Bruce Springsteen, Sabrina Carpenter, and Radiohead, to name a few.