Sabrina Carpenter called ICE videos evil, Olivia Rodrigo called them racist propaganda, and SZA called them evil and boring.
Now Ariana Grande became the fourth major pop star to publicly curse out ICE – and the White House fired back with a message she didn't see coming.
The response she got used her own song title to shut her down, and the three words the White House chose say everything about who these celebrities are actually protecting.
Hollywood's ICE Tantrum Is Now a Pattern
The White House posted a TikTok this week showing ICE arrests set to Grande's 2024 song "Bye," with the caption: "Bye-bye. President Trump has delivered the most secure border in history."
Grande found the video and commented: "please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. f*** ice."
The White House had heard this exact complaint before.
Carpenter said the same video strategy was "evil and disgusting."
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/2065399968228139387?s=20
Olivia Rodrigo told DHS to stop using her music for what she called "racist, hateful propaganda."
SZA labeled her video moment "Evil n Boring" and accused the White House of rage-baiting artists for free promotion.
Every time, the White House fired back.
The White House Response They All Should Have Expected
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson delivered the response that mattered.
"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," Jackson told Fox News Digital.
Three words – barbaric, inhumane, heinous – taken directly from Grande's own attack and redirected at the people ICE is actually arresting.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai punned off her catalog directly.
"Save your tears, Ariana. Because President Trump's actions ended Joe Biden's inflation crisis and are bringing in trillions in new investment," he said.
The sound was stripped from the video.
The message was not.
What None of These Celebrities Will Tell You
Grande has 363 million Instagram followers.
She used that platform to share scripts for fans to call senators about ICE, distribute NYC deportation defense hotline information, and wear an "ICE OUT" pin at the Golden Globes.
Karoline Leavitt identified the pattern months ago when celebrities attacked ICE at the Grammy Awards.
"It's very ironic and frankly sad to see celebrities who live in gated communities with private security, with millions of dollars to spend protecting themselves, trying to just demonize law enforcement, public servants who work for the United States government to enforce our nation's laws," Leavitt said.
She then asked the question none of these celebrities ever answered: where was the Hollywood outrage when Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray were murdered by illegal immigrants who never should have been in this country?
Both forgotten by the same entertainers now screaming about ICE on TikTok.
Biden let those men in.
These celebrities cheered him for it.
https://twitter.com/RedMedia_us/status/2065224823798694220?s=20
Trump is removing them.
These celebrities are cursing at the agents doing the job.
While Grande was posting hotline numbers to 363 million followers, ICE was arresting a Peruvian national convicted of injuring a child in New York.
A Vietnamese national convicted of assault. An Indonesian national convicted of domestic battery in Los Angeles.
A Mexican national convicted of lewd acts with a child under 14.
Those are the people in the videos she called barbaric.
Laken Riley never got to post anything.
Neither did Jocelyn Nungaray.
The celebrities defending the men who killed them haven't said their names once.
Sources:
- Brie Stimson, "White House fires back at Ariana Grande after she told them to never use her music in ICE deportation video," Fox News, June 11, 2026.
- Emma Colton, "Leavitt scorches 'elitist' celebrities slamming ICE from 'gated' mansions," Fox News, February 3, 2026.
- "Pop star SZA lashes out at White House for 'Evil n Boring' deportation post using her song," Fox News, December 2025.
- "White House fires back after Sabrina Carpenter slams ICE video using her song," Fox News, 2025.
- Landon Mion, "ICE says more criminal migrants arrested on 1-year anniversary of program to support victims of migrant crime," Fox News, April 9, 2026.
