Pop star Zara Larsson is the latest artist to condemn the White House for using her music in a social media video to promote deportation.
The White House shared a TikTok video on Wednesday, showing footage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting and deporting people while Larsson’s Midnight Sun plays in the background with the caption, “Never ending deportations.”
On Thursday, Larsson shared a response by stitching the White House’s video and said, “Like, I don’t even know what to say. I saw some comments. I got tagged in this obviously, and some people were like, ‘She’s going to be pissed.’ You know what? I’m just sad. I’m just really sad. That really makes me sad to see that, genuinely. My heart’s heavy.”
“I wish I could speak to whoever made this video. I wish I could talk to you and I wish I could help you remember that you and I, we aren’t that different. At all. And we’re not that different from the people in this video either. The biggest difference between us is that we were dealt a different hand in life,” Larsson continued.
The Swedish singer said that she considers herself “so lucky” with the life that she’s been dealt.
“The fact that I’m born in Sweden, I have healthcare, I’ve had an education and I’ve had all these opportunities just sort of laid out in front of me. I can travel and get to do all these amazing things. That’s luck, so much of that is luck. There are people out there who are not that lucky, and they want to have a better life for their families or for themselves and their children. I just don’t understand how it could be the worst thing in the world to be an undocumented immigrant,” the 28-year-old pop star said.
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“I think, sure, if you want to talk about politics and immigration politics, fine. But that’s really not what this is. Like, this video is so dehumanizing. These people in this video are real people,” Larsson said. “There’s a f—ing guy in there with construction wear. He’s working. Half majority of these people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs and are just trying to have a better future.”
“I don’t understand why you would do this video,” Larsson continued. “It’s so crazy how everything is so meme-ified and and ha-ha-ha video, especially to this song, which is about feeling connected to nature, the universe and people, essentially. And this just creates this massive divide between people. I just don’t get it. It’s so f—-ing uncool… You guys are such f—-ing losers, like it’s crazy.”
Global News has reached out to the White House for comment, but has not received a response.
This isn’t the first time Larsson has spoke out about the White House using her music in social media posts.
In January, the White House posted a video of U.S. President Donald Trump dancing to her song Lush Life with text on the screen that read, “We love America First, we love deportations. We love cheap gas prices. We love a secure border. We love world peace. We love law and order. We love work not welfare. WE LOVE ICE and our law enforcement!”
Larsson took to Instagram to respond to the TikTok video, writing, “I love immigrants, I love criminals, I love trans people, I love abortions, I love queers, I love sl—y women, I love contraception, I love welfare, I love socialism, I f—ing hate ICE.”
The Symphony singer joins a long list of celebrities that have asked the White House not to use their music in ICE-related content on social media.
In July, Katy Perry said she was “deeply appalled” after the White House used her hit song Firework in a video of military strikes.
“Iran has been warned,” the White House wrote in the caption of the TikTok video showing “unclassified” missiles hitting targets, as Perry sings “boom, boom, boom, even brighter than the moon, moon, moon.”
“I am deeply appalled and angry to see Firework used on the White House TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes,” the 41-year-old singer wrote in a post on X. “I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it.”
Perry said she wrote Firework as 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,” Perry wrote. “My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.”
When Global News reached out to the White House for comment, they shared the link to deputy assistant to Trump and deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr’s response on X to Perry’s post.
Dorr shared a montage of clips from Perry’s Part of Me music video, where the singer is seen joining the U.S. Marines.
“This you?” Dorr wrote in the tweet alongside the video.
In June, Ariana Grande told Trump’s administration to stop using her music to promote its policies.
The comment came after the White House shared a video on TikTok highlighting its immigration policy. The video, which depicts federal agents arresting and handcuffing people, features the Grammy Award-winning singer’s 2024 song Bye.
“Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,” Grande wrote in a comment posted on the White House video on TikTok.
Responding to Grande, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “We’ll say this one last time: what’s actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens.”
In December, pop star Sabrina Carpenter condemned the White House for using her song Juno in a United States ICE video depicting ICE raids.
The video, shared to The White House’s official X account, shows ICE officers detaining people while quoting lyrics from Carpenter’s song in the caption.
“Have you ever tried this one? Bye-bye,: the White House X account wrote in the post attached to the video featuring Carpenter’s song, followed by a pair of waving and heart eyes emojis.
“This video is evil and disgusting,” Carpenter, 27, wrote in response. “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”
The White House defended its immigration policy after Carpenter criticized it.
“Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country. Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?” White House spokesperson Jackson said in a statement, using another Carpenter reference from her song Manchild.
—With files from Reuters