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We suspect that someone at the White House has the hots for Sabrina Carpenter. Or atleast loves to taunt her.
The Trump administration has used another clip of the America pop star to promote ICE, just days after Carpenter slammed the administration, calling it “evil and disgusting” for using her song ‘Juno’ to promote US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Indeed, they’ve doubled down by using the singer’s image without her authorisation, manipulating a clip of Carpenter from her recent Saturday Night Live appearance.
In the video, she is standing next to SNL cast member Marcello Hernández, an American whose parents are from Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The audio has been altered to make it appear as if she’s calling Hernández “illegal” instead of “hot.”
In the original SNL clip, Carpenter says: “I think I might need to arrest someone for being too hot.” Hernández then responds: “Oh well, I turn myself in”, putting his hands out for handcuffs. Carpenter then says: “You’re under arrest.”
This was a reference to a recurring bit during Carpenter’s recent tour, where she would playfully “arrest” someone in the crowd with a pair of furry handcuffs during her performance of ‘Juno’.
The manipulated White House clip then cuts to people – allegedly undocumented immigrants – being chased and arrested. A caption reads: “PSA: If you’re a criminal illegal, you WILL be arrested & deported.”
After Carpenter posted her objections last week regarding her music being used in an ICE clip, White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said in response: “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?”
However, the clip was quietly removed from X on Friday, and the White House did not issue any explanation for its removal.
Carpenter adds her name to a long list of musicians who have expressed disgust over the Trump administration’s unauthorised use of their music. The artists include ABBA, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Semisonic, Adele, Céline Dion, Beyoncé, R.E.M., The White Stripes, Neil Young and Rihanna.
ICE videos using the music of The Cure and MGMT have also been removed due to official takedown requests and last month, US singer Olivia Rodrigo warned the White House not to “ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda” after the Department of Homeland Security posted an Instagram video soundtracked by her song ‘All-American Bitch’ to promote its deportation efforts.
In October, Trump posted a vile AI-generated video as a way to get back at those participating in No Kings protests. In it, the Top Gun song ‘Danger Zone’ by Kenny Loggins is used to soundtrack Trump dropping feces on protesters.
Loggins objected to the use of his song: “This is an unauthorized use of my performance of ‘Danger Zone.’ Nobody asked me for my permission, which I would have denied, and I request that my recording on this video is removed immediately.”
At the time of writing, Loggins’ music is still in the video on Trump’s Truth Social account.