The White House seems to be engaging in a back-and-forth with Katy Perry, the 41-year-old pop singer. This interaction began when Perry criticized the Trump administration for using her song “Firework” in a TikTok video depicting military actions against Iran. In response, the White House released another video featuring Perry’s 2012 hit “Part of Me,” incorporating clips from the song’s music video showing Perry in military attire with a weapon, alongside visuals of Donald Trump, military personnel, and fighter jets. The video is captioned with a lyric from the song, “Now look at me.”
Trump aide Kaelan Dorr also shared the video on X, playfully tagging Perry and prompting her with, “Hi @katyperry,” along with a waving hand emoji. Following Perry’s disapproval of the use of “Firework,” Dorr posted a clip of the “Part of Me” video, questioning Perry with the caption, “This you?”
The dispute began when the White House posted a brief TikTok video featuring Perry’s “Firework” synced with footage appearing to depict U.S. strikes against Iran, captioned with “Iran has been warned.” Perry expressed her shock and anger on X, stating that she did not endorse the use of her music, although she no longer owns the rights to her earlier songs. Subsequently, the music was removed from the video.
As of now, Perry has not responded to the most recent video. Several other artists, including Ariana Grande, Bruce Springsteen, Kesha, SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo, have also criticized the Trump administration for using their music without permission.