{"id":154505,"date":"2026-06-12T15:48:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T23:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/12\/ariana-grande-tells-white-house-they-cant-be-friends\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T15:48:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T23:48:24","slug":"ariana-grande-tells-white-house-they-cant-be-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/12\/ariana-grande-tells-white-house-they-cant-be-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Ariana Grande Tells White House They Can\u2019t Be Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American government is no stranger to using popular artists to push along their paintings. And the artists usually benefit \u2014 Jackson Pollock wouldn\u2019t have made it into nearly as many art galleries if not for government efforts in fighting the Cold War<\/a>. But outside of washed-up musicians like Kid Rock, it has been hard to find musicians who will stand for having their music associated with abducting children and turning our government into a front for reality TV stars to siphon tax dollars into their bank accounts. The US Freedom 250 festival is the most obvious example<\/a> of artists not having the time of day to mess with Trump<\/a>, but this has been going on for years \u2014 and we\u2019ve been gleefully cataloguing<\/a> the growing number of musicians that go out of their way to opt out of being used for administration propaganda.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some great news: Ariana Grande joins the ranks. Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

American pop star Ariana Grande told President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s administration on \u200bThursday to stop using her music to promote its \u200cpolicies. The comment came after the White House shared a video on TikTok earlier this week highlighting its immigration policy. The video, which depicts federal \u200bagents arresting and handcuffing people, features the Grammy Award-winning \u200bsinger\u2019s 2024 song \u201cBye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease do not ever use my music \u2060in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,\u201d Grande \u200bwrote in a comment posted on the White House video on \u200bTikTok on Thursday. A source close to the singer said her team is looking into how to remove the music from the video as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If she turns that cease and desist letter into a song, it\u2019ll go right next to \u201cThank U, Next<\/a>\u201d on my personal playlist. Speaking of playlists, ATL compiled a list of the songs artists have expressly told the administration not to play \u2014 and it\u2019s full of bangers. Give it a listen as you rack up those billables:<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

On it you\u2019ll find Grande\u2019s \u201cBye,\u201d along with The White Stripes\u2019 \u201cSeven Nation Army\u201d and The Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cYou Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want.\u201d The star-studded cast of pop artists who\u2019ve told the administration to lay off their tunes remains void of any Taylor Swift tracks. Not for lack of opportunity or anything<\/a>; perhaps she\u2019s still busy celebrating the most recent Knicks win? Either way, there are a bunch of artists with backbone and we\u2019re happy to make listening to them a little easier.<\/p>\n

Ariana Grande To White House: Don\u2019t Use My Music For \u2018Heinous Nonsense\u2019 <\/a>[Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: You Could Make A Playlist Of All The Musicians Who Sued Trump For Playing Their Music<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn\u2019t hurt either. You can reach him by email at christopherrashadwilliams@gmail.com<\/a> and by Tweet\/Bluesky at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Ariana Grande Tells White House They Can\u2019t Be Friends<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The American government is no stranger to using popular artists to push along their paintings. And the artists usually benefit \u2014 Jackson Pollock wouldn\u2019t have made it into nearly as many art galleries if not for government efforts in fighting the Cold War<\/a>. But outside of washed-up musicians like Kid Rock, it has been hard to find musicians who will stand for having their music associated with abducting children and turning our government into a front for reality TV stars to siphon tax dollars into their bank accounts. The US Freedom 250 festival is the most obvious example<\/a> of artists not having the time of day to mess with Trump<\/a>, but this has been going on for years \u2014 and we\u2019ve been gleefully cataloguing<\/a> the growing number of musicians that go out of their way to opt out of being used for administration propaganda.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some great news: Ariana Grande joins the ranks. Reuters<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

American pop star Ariana Grande told President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s administration on \u200bThursday to stop using her music to promote its \u200cpolicies. The comment came after the White House shared a video on TikTok earlier this week highlighting its immigration policy. The video, which depicts federal \u200bagents arresting and handcuffing people, features the Grammy Award-winning \u200bsinger\u2019s 2024 song \u201cBye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease do not ever use my music \u2060in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,\u201d Grande \u200bwrote in a comment posted on the White House video on \u200bTikTok on Thursday. A source close to the singer said her team is looking into how to remove the music from the video as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If she turns that cease and desist letter into a song, it\u2019ll go right next to \u201cThank U, Next<\/a>\u201d on my personal playlist. Speaking of playlists, ATL compiled a list of the songs artists have expressly told the administration not to play \u2014 and it\u2019s full of bangers. Give it a listen as you rack up those billables:<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

On it you\u2019ll find Grande\u2019s \u201cBye,\u201d along with The White Stripes\u2019 \u201cSeven Nation Army\u201d and The Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cYou Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want.\u201d The star-studded cast of pop artists who\u2019ve told the administration to lay off their tunes remains void of any Taylor Swift tracks. Not for lack of opportunity or anything<\/a>; perhaps she\u2019s still busy celebrating the most recent Knicks win? Either way, there are a bunch of artists with backbone and we\u2019re happy to make listening to them a little easier.<\/p>\n

Ariana Grande To White House: Don\u2019t Use My Music For \u2018Heinous Nonsense\u2019 <\/a>[Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: You Could Make A Playlist Of All The Musicians Who Sued Trump For Playing Their Music<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn\u2019t hurt either. You can reach him by email at christopherrashadwilliams@gmail.com<\/a> and by Tweet\/Bluesky at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Ariana Grande Tells White House They Can\u2019t Be Friends<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American government is no stranger to using popular artists to push along their paintings. And the artists usually benefit \u2014 Jackson Pollock wouldn\u2019t have made it into nearly as many art galleries if not for government efforts in fighting the Cold War. But outside of washed-up musicians like Kid Rock, it has been hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":154506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025-zMmbfO.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}