{"id":712403,"date":"2026-07-26T18:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/712403\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T18:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:52:09","slug":"katy-perry-deeply-appalled-over-white-house-using-her-song-in-iran-war-video-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/712403\/","title":{"rendered":"Katy Perry \u2018deeply appalled\u2019 over White House using her song in Iran war video | Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Pop star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/katy-perry\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Katy Perry<\/a> has condemned the Trump White House after it used her hit song Firework in a TikTok video showing US military strikes on Iranian targets, saying she never approved the use of her music.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The White House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@whitehouse\/video\/7665732448562580749?is_from_webapp=1\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a>, which featured Firework playing over footage of a missile striking an Iranian naval ship, has amassed more than 6 million views. The post was captioned: \u201cIran has been warned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Perry responded on Saturday with a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/katyperry\/status\/2081032309508047136\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow\">statement on X<\/a> criticizing what she called the unauthorized use of the song.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cI am deeply appalled and angry to see \u2018Firework\u2019 used on the White House TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes,\u201d the singer said. \u201cI did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Perry continued: \u201cI wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and inner strength for people going through their darkest personal moments. To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponized to soundtrack destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for. My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The White House launched its TikTok account in August 2025, when Donald Trump threatened to ban the platform months into his second presidency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Perry is among a number of artists to criticize the Trump administration over the unauthorized use of music in government social media posts, with the president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global\/2025\/dec\/13\/trump-ice-video-music\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">picking fights<\/a> with several \u2013 mostly female \u2013 pop singers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Olivia Rodrigo previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2025\/nov\/08\/olivia-rodrigo-trump-video\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">criticized<\/a> the administration after one of her songs appeared in a government video promoting deportation efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Beyonc\u00e9 also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/article\/2024\/aug\/22\/beyonce-blocks-trump-use-of-her-song-freedom-kamala-harris\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">blocked<\/a> Trump from using her song Freedom after it was featured in a campaign video on social media. The track had served as the central campaign song for former vice-president Kamala Harris, who lost the 2024 White House election to Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In March, Kesha <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/music\/news\/kesha-blasts-white-house-using-blow-pro-war-post-disgusting-1236677572\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">condemned<\/a> the White House\u2019s use of her song Blow in a military-promotional TikTok video, calling it a \u201cshow of blatant disregard for human life\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Sabrina Carpenter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2025\/dec\/02\/sabrina-carpenter-ice-video\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">spoke out<\/a> after her hit song Juno was used in a Trump-posted video showing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers making arrests. Carpenter called the video \u201cevil and disgusting\u201d and told the administration: \u201cDo not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In June, Ariana Grande also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2026\/jun\/12\/ariana-grande-rebukes-white-house-music-ice-video\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rebuked<\/a> the White House for using her song Bye in a social media post promoting US immigration arrests, describing the video as \u201cbarbaric\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Singer Jess Glynne also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/jul\/31\/white-house-jet2-holiday-meme-ice-deportations\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">objected<\/a> after the White House used her song Hold My Hand in a post on X promoting ICE deportations. Glynne said she felt \u201csick\u201d that her music was being used to spread \u201cdivision and hate\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">It was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/dec\/08\/katy-perry-justin-trudeau-instagram-relationship-official\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">revealed<\/a> in December that Perry is in a relationship with former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who is familiar himself with Trump\u2019s trolling. He has repeatedly been targeted by Trump, who has continuously threatened to impose tariffs on Canada and has even suggested the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/jan\/09\/trudeau-trump-threatened-to-annex-canada-to-distract-from-tariffs-impact\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US should annex<\/a> the country, referring to Trudeau as the \u201cgovernor\u201d of the \u201cGreat State of Canada\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) lists the official death toll for the US-Iran conflict at 14 service members, with 420 total personnel wounded in action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Those official metrics, however, have been subject to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/23\/pentagon-service-members-killed-iran\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ongoing controversy<\/a> due to a sudden drop from the 18 deaths and 482 wounded recorded days earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The collapse of the ceasefire with Iran and the subsequent resumption of near-daily airstrikes starting on 6 July have sparked debate over how casualties are counted. Analysts and officials have questioned whether victims from the two weeks since should be tracked in a separate tally, a move that would be unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Trump administration is attempting to have the latest resumed strikes in Iran be treated as a separate campaign from Operation Epic Fury, the US military\u2019s official name for the Iran conflict. The <a href=\"https:\/\/dcas.dmdc.osd.mil\/dcas\/conflictCasualties\/oo\/byCategory\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">separate casualty count<\/a> beginning 7 July stems from that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The US House member Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, responded to the updated numbers in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepThomasMassie\/status\/2080462422838505555\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow\">an X post<\/a>, writing, \u201cLet me explain this absurd ruse: The Pentagon is pretending there have been two Iran wars separated by a brief cease-fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe reality: By going more than 90 days without congressional authorization,\u201d the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, \u201cIS BREAKING THE LAW and must be held accountable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pop star Katy Perry has condemned the Trump White House after it used her hit song Firework in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-712403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}