Olivia Rodrigo has criticised the US government after one of her songs was used in a controversial video without her permission.
The video, shared in a joint Instagram post by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday, was set to Rodrigo’s track All-American Bitch, the opening song from her Billboard 200-topping sophomore album, Guts. The clip shows United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers forcibly detaining and deporting people before cutting to a montage of supposed immigrants boarding flights organised by the DHS, smiling and giving thumbs-up as they go. The caption read: “LEAVE NOW and self-deport using the CBP Home app. If you don’t, you will face the consequences.”
In response, Rodrigo commented, “don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.” Billboard has contacted both the White House and ICE for comment.
The reason behind the government’s use of a song by the three-time Grammy winner remains unclear. Rodrigo has been outspoken in her opposition to Donald Trump, endorsing his opponent Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, and has previously criticised ICE’s harsh immigration enforcement over the past year.
“I’ve lived in LA my whole life and I’m deeply upset about these violent deportations of my neighbours under the current administration,” she wrote on her Instagram Story in June. “LA simply wouldn’t exist without immigrants. Treating hardworking community members with such little respect, empathy, and due process is awful. I stand with the beautiful, diverse community of Los Angeles and with immigrants all across America. I stand for our right to freedom of speech and freedom to protest.”
The incident is part of a wider pattern of the Trump administration using music without artist consent. Recently, Kenny Loggins criticised Trump for pairing Danger Zone with an AI-generated video of himself defacing “No Kings” protestors, while Taylor Swift fans protested after a TikTok video used Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia. Swift herself did not comment, but her long-standing opposition to Trump suggests she had not authorised its use.