Ariana Grande has publicly criticized the White House after a cover of her 2024 song Bye was used in a TikTok post showing ICE agents arresting and handcuffing people.
The singer directly commented on the publication, leaving her position unequivocal.
“Please never use my music in connection with this barbaric, inhumane, atrocious nonsense,” he wrote, according to Reuters.
A spokesperson for Grande confirmed the comment to Varietynoting that “for some reason it wasn’t publicly visible” in the post, and said his team was working to remove the sound from the video.
The White House did not take the criticism calmly.
Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson issued a statement in response: “We will say this one last time: What is truly barbaric, inhumane and atrocious are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens.”
Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai went further and responded to Grande directly with a series of puns about her song titles.
“Save your tears, Ariana. Because President Trump’s actions ended Joe Biden’s inflation crisis and are generating trillions in new investment,” she said.
“He even magically signed an executive order that paved the way for the FTC to crack down on Ticketmaster for ripping off fans who attended Ariana Grande concerts. Get well soon, Ariana!”
This is not the first time Grande has taken a public stance against the Trump administration.
In September 2025, he shared a post on Instagram criticizing ICE raids, transphobic rhetoric, and other threats to democracy, originally written by activist Matt Bernstein as a direct message to the former president’s supporters.
Grande, 32, previously supported Democratic candidate Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election and performed in the White House during the Obama administration in 2014.
He is currently on his Eternal Sunshine tour and is scheduled to perform at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles this Saturday.
