The Department of Homeland Security took it personally when a country music star took a dig at ICE.
The agency released yet another action movie-inspired montage of immigration raids, this time set to Zach Bryan’s “Revival,” after the singer-songwriter teased an upcoming song that throws shade at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The 30-second clip posted to X on Tuesday shows ICE agents clad in camouflage and gas masks as they faced off with protesters and rounded up several people.
In the background, Bryan sings: “Lord, forgive us, my boys and me/We’re having an all-night revival/Someone call the women and someone steal the Bible/For the sake of my survival/Baptize me in a bottle of Beam, put Johnny on the vinyl.”
“We’re having an All Night Revival,” the DHS wrote in the caption.
The agency appears to have dug deep into Bryan’s award-winning music catalogue to issue the petty rebuttal. Although “Revival” is a favorite in Bryan’s fan base and is often performed as an encore at his concerts, the song did not enjoy broad commercial success or top the charts.
Bryan caught MAGA’s ire when he uploaded a snippet of an unreleased song on Instagram with the caption “the fading of the red white and blue.”
“The generational story of dropping the plot/I heard the cops came, cocky motherf-----s ain’t they?/And ICE is gonna come bust down your door/Try to build a house, no bills no more, well I got a telephone/Kids are all scared and all alone,” he croons.
“The boss stopped bumping, the rock stopped rolling/The middle fingers rising and it won’t stop showing/Got some bad news/The fading of the red, white and blue,” the clip ends.
MAGA devotees were quick to blast the Grammy Award-winning musician’s “non-career” even as they acknowledged that he set a record for the largest ticketed concert in the U.S. when he drew over 112,000 fans to Michigan Stadium last week.
“Now, that will never happen again. When will they learn?” conservative influencer Benny Johnson wrote on X.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Johnson that she was “extremely disappointed and disheartened” by the song.
“I hope he understands how completely disrespectful that song is not just to law enforcement but to this country, to every single individual that has ever stood up and fought for our freedoms,” she said. “He just compromised it all by putting out a product such as that that attacks individuals who are just trying to make our streets safe.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Beast Bryan should “stick to Pink Skies, dude,” when asked for comment about the new track.
Bryan broke his silence on the conservative outrage in a statement posted to his Instagram story on Tuesday, revealing that he wrote the song “months ago.”
“When you hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “Everyone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are. We need to find our way back.”
Bryan, who served in the U.S. Navy for eight years, said he loved America as he sought to disentangle himself from politics. He posed for a photo next to President Donald Trump and comedian Shane Gillis earlier this year but quickly took down the post.
“I wasn’t speaking as a politician or some greater-than-thou asshole, just a 29-year-old man who is just as confused as everyone else. To see how much s--t it stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared. Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American,” he said.
“To all those disappointed in me on either side of whatever you believe in just know I’m trying my best too and we all say things that are misconstrued sometimes.”
