New White House Video Shows Katy Perry’s Face and Music

The Pop Star and the White House: A Controversial Musical Conflict

The White House has found itself in a heated dispute with a pop superstar over the unauthorized use of her music in a military-themed video. Katy Perry, 41, expressed her outrage on social media, stating that she was “deeply appalled and angry” that her 2010 hit “Firework” was used in a White House montage titled “Iran has been warned.” The video featured clips of military strikes synced to the lyrics of “Boom boom boom.”

Perry emphasized that she had not been consulted about the use of her song and condemned the decision. “I absolutely do not condone it,” she said. She further explained that her music is meant to promote self-worth and unity, not to be associated with violence or warfare. Despite her complaints, the original video remains online, although “Firework” has been removed from the TikTok version, which now displays a message stating, “This sound isn’t available.”

In response to Perry’s initial complaint, the White House took a different approach by sharing a new video on its TikTok account. This time, the video was set to another of Perry’s songs, “Part of Me,” from 2012. The video also included footage of Perry herself, taken from the music video for “Part of Me.” In this version, Perry appears between images of Donald Trump and fighter jets. At the beginning of the 15-second clip, Perry is shown holding a weapon in military fatigues.

The post on TikTok is captioned with the lyric “Now look at me,” which is from the song. A Trump aide, Kaelan Dorr, shared the video on X, tagging Perry with the word “Hi” and a waving hand emoji.

Dorr had previously responded to Perry’s criticism by sharing a clip of the pop star in military attire from the “Part of Me” video, accompanied by the caption “This you?”

Perry filmed the “Part of Me” music video at USMC Camp Pendleton in 2012, claiming that real Marines were used instead of actors. She described the experience as educational, highlighting the respect she has for service members and their loyalty. “Not to sound weird, but it seems like the heart of America. Seriously, the heart,” she said in 2012. The song became her seventh No.1 single on the Billboard chart.

The situation becomes more complex due to Perry’s recent sale of her music rights to Litmus Music in 2023 for $225 million. This deal covers her stake in the master recordings and publishing rights for all her songs from five of her most successful albums, including “Firework” and “Part of Me.” These types of mega-deals often result in artists losing control over where their songs are used, typically protected by retaining publishing rights. It remains unclear whether Perry still has a say in how her songs are utilized.

Perry is currently dating Justin Trudeau, who served as Canada’s prime minister and Liberal Party leader from 2015 to 2025. Last year, she sparked controversy by accepting Jeff Bezos’ invitation to join the Blue Origin space tourism flight. However, she missed Bezos’ wedding to Lauren Sánchez as she was touring Australia.

Other musical artists have also criticized the Trump administration for using their songs in social media posts. These include Bruce Springsteen, Sabrina Carpenter, Neil Young, Jack White, Céline Dion, Kesha, and Ariana Grande. Grande’s song “Bye” was used in an ICE video in June, prompting her to comment, “please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. f– ice.” In May, Kesha called the White House “perverts” for using her 2011 song “Blow” in a TikTok video titled “Lethality.”

Kesha added, “Also, don’t let this distract us from the fact that criminal predator Donald Trump appears in the Files over a million times.” The White House later removed both Kesha and Grande’s songs from their videos. At the time, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung remarked, “All these ‘singers’ keep falling for this.” He continued, “This just gives us more attention and more view counts to our videos because people want to see what they’re bitching about.”