Sabrina Carpenter attends the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
FilmMagic
Sabrina Carpenter pushed back against the Trump administration after the official White House account on X (Twitter) posted an ICE deportation video featuring her hit song, “Juno.”
Carpenter’s angry response ratioed the White House with more than a million likes and sparked hundreds of memes, as fans celebrated her outspokenness.
What Did Sabrina Carpenter Say?
The official White House X account posted an edited montage of ICE deportations, set to the song “Juno,” with the repeated line, “Have you ever tried this one?”
The White House account on X is known to be extremely online and often references popular memes, posting unsettling imagery of immigrant arrests blended with playful pop songs or generative AI-edits, such as the Studio Ghibli trend.
The “Juno” edit was meant to mimic a viral TikTok trend in which Carpenter fans mimic their favorite pop star, miming sex positions while the phrase “Have you ever tried this one?” plays.
In the White House edit, the footage features immigrants being chased, handcuffed and shoved to the ground.
In her reply, Carpenter described the video as “evil and disgusting,” and warned the White House not to use her music to “benefit your inhumane agenda.”
X users voted using the “like” button—the original White House post received 85 thousand likes, but Carpenter’s reply boasts more than 1.6 million, with fans declaring a triumphant “ratio”—the people, it seems, have spoken.
Carpenter fans and Trump critics united, making memes and cracking jokes, many creating mock-up images of Carpenter as a revolutionary leftist.
Some pointed out the resemblance between young Hillary Clinton and Sabrina Carpenter, noting that the two were united against a common enemy.
Commentators were surprised by the amount of “likes” that Carpenter managed to gain on X, with the general assumption being that X swung sharply to the right after Elon Musk’s acquisition of the site.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to Carpenter, stating:
“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. Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?”
This is far from the first celebrity-backed backlash against Trump’s administration, as the White House has made a habit of using viral pop songs for social media posts.
Other Pop Stars Have Criticized The White House
The “Juno” edit comes a month after Olivia Rodrigo pushed back against the Trump administration, with the Department of Homeland Security posting a similar montage of immigrant arrests set to the tune of Rodrigo’s “All-American Bitch.”
In the comments section, Rodrigo wrote, “don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.”
Previously, the White House used the Taylor Swift single “The Fate of Ophelia” as the soundtrack to a pro-Trump video, igniting the wrath of Swifties.
Notably, Swift herself did not comment, although the singer has fiercely spoken out against Trump in the past.
Many of the posts celebrating Sabrina Carpenter took the opportunity to criticize Swift’s silence, sparking a rivalry between the two fandoms.
The most bizarre clash between a musician and the White House was surely the moment when Kenny Loggins lashed out at Trump for using his Top Gun song “Danger Zone” as the soundtrack to an AI slop video posted on Truth Social.
The AI-generated video depicts the President of the United States flying a fighter jet over the “No Kings” protest and seemingly, dumping liquid feces on the protesters.
The Trump administration’s meme-heavy social media strategy seems to be backfiring—unless the goal is to be ratioed by Sabrina Carpenter.
