“Stupid or slow?”: White House attacks Carpenter after she objects to ICE video using her music

The White House sent a nasty message to Sabrina Carpenter on Tuesday, shortly after the pop star objected to the Trump administration using her music to soundtrack a montage of ICE arrests.

“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,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson shared in a statement that included references to Carpenter’s recent albums. “Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”

The tiff started with a video shared by the White House’s official social media account on Tuesday. The video began with images of Chicagoans protesting ICE raids. It quickly cut to clips of agents chasing and arresting people. The montage centered on Carpenter’s hit song “Juno.”

Have you ever tried this one?

Bye-bye ???????? pic.twitter.com/MS9OJKjVdX

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 1, 2025

Carpenter called the video “evil and disgusting” and asked that her music not be used to “benefit [the administration’s] inhumane agenda.”

Carpenter is far from the first artist to push back against the Trump administration using their music.

Sinead O’Connor, Beyoncé and The White Stripes have all taken offense at the use of their music at President Donald Trump‘s campaign rallies. The latter act, recent inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, sued Trump for copyright infringement after his campaign used the song “Seven Nation Army” to soundtrack a video.

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“Oh . . .Don’t even think about using my music, you fascists. Lawsuit coming from my lawyers about this (to add to your 5 thousand others),” Jack White wrote on Instagram at the time.

That lawsuit was quietly dropped last November, with the act providing no explanation.