Topline
Swedish pop star Zara Larsson criticized the White House for using her song “Midnight Sun” in a TikTok post depicting migrant deportations, becoming the latest in a growing chorus of artists who have demanded the Trump administration stop using their music on social media.
Zara Larsson criticized the White House for using her song “Midnight Sun” in a TikTok video about deportations. (Photo by Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage)
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Key Facts
Larsson responded on Thursday to a video the White House posted a day earlier, which shows immigration authorities detaining migrants, captioned, “Never ending deportations,” a play on the words to Larsson’s song “Midnight Sun.”
In Larsson’s response, she put her fingers in the shape of an “L” on her forehead—meaning “Loser”—saying her “heart is heavy” and she is “really sad.”
“If you want to talk about politics and immigration politics, fine, but that’s really not what this is,” Larsson said, calling the White House’s video “so dehumanizing.”
Larsson noted one of the detained migrants was wearing construction gear and may have been at work, saying the “vast majority of these people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs, and they’re just trying to have a better future.”
Larsson said she wishes she could speak to whoever made the White House’s video to “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.”
crucial quote
“This just creates this massive divide between people. I just don’t get it. Like, it’s just so f—ing uncool,” Larsson said, calling the Trump administration “such f—ing losers, it’s crazy.”
big number
3.4 million. That’s how many views Larsson’s TikTok post has, with nearly 1 million likes as of Thursday afternoon. The White House’s post that uses Larsson’s song, in comparison, has 1.5 million views and 77,000 likes.
What Other Artists Have Criticized The White House?
Katy Perry slammed the White House in July for using her hits “Firework” and “Part of Me” in TikTok posts, both of which flaunted military strikes. Perry said she was “deeply appalled and angry to see ‘Firework’ used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes,” saying she was not asked for permission. “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 said. In June, Ariana Grande urged the White House to “not use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,” after it used her song “Bye” in a video about deportations. Last year, after the White House used her song “Juno” in a deportation video, Sabrina Carpenter said in a post on X: “this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda,” which was liked nearly 2 million times. Other artists, including Kesha, SZA and Olivia Rodrigo, have also previously condemned the White House for using their music.
key background
Larsson has long been outspoken against the Trump administration and in favor of progressive causes. In January, Larson wrote, “I love immigrants” and “I f—ing hate ICE,” as well as other left-leaning stances, in a post on her Instagram story. After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Larsson said in an Instagram post, “I love seeing Trump lose. It’s my daily medicine, my weekly energy, my monthly inspiration and my yearly motivation.” She also claimed Trump does not “give a F— about black people, brown people, women, and poor people” in a 2019 X post.
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