Grammy-nominated singer Kesha has branded the White House “perverts” for using one of her hit songs to soundtrack a graphic video of military strikes.
Kesha’s 2011 song “Blow” was used on a White House TikTok video titled “Lethality” that was posted on Feb. 10. The 30-second clip, which has been viewed more than 1.9 million times, shows a jet launching a missile into a ship, which then explodes, as well as other military imagery.
On Monday, Kesha stated she had been informed the White House had used “Blow” on their TikTok account “to incite violence and threaten war.”
“Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane. I absolutely do NOT approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind. Love always trumps hate,” Kesha wrote on social media.
She joins a growing chorus of artists, including Neil Young, ABBA, former White Stripes frontman Jack White, singers Celine Dion and Sabrina Carpenter, and even the estates of Isaac Hayes and late Beatle George Harrison, who have all balked at the idea of the White House using their work to boost its agenda.
Kesha, whose 2009 breakthrough hit was ironically called “Tik Tok,” told her followers, “This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for.”
Taking a swipe at the president’s diversion techniques, she added, “Also, don’t let this distract us from the fact that criminal predator Donald Trump appears in the Files over a million times.”
White House communications director Steven Cheung clapped back, seeming to suggest their use of popular music is a strategic troll to drive traffic to MAGA videos.
“All these ‘singers’ keep falling for this,” Cheung wrote. “This just gives us more attention and more view counts to our videos because people want to see what they’re bitching about.”
Thirty minutes after Cheung’s comment, Kesha simply posted “Stop using my music, perverts @WhiteHouse” on her X account.
The Daily Beast contacted the White House, which sent Cheung’s original post in response.
In addition, a statement by White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr read, “Kesha quotes are like Popeye’s Spinach to this team. Memes? They’ll continue. Winning? Will also continue.”
The White House did not comment on Kesha’s “perverts” post. Dorr has 50,000 followers on X, Cheung has 137,000, Kesha has 2.8 million.
“Blow” reached No.7 in 2011 and has been streamed over 330,000 times on Spotify alone. Kesha has had over 11 billion streams on Spotify and has 41 million monthly listeners.
Her biggest hits include “Tik Tok,” “Timber,” “Die Young,” “Your Love Is My Drug” and “Praying.”
Kesha, 39, previously took aim at the Trump administration when asked by a paparazzo for her thoughts on then vice presidential candidate JD Vance in 2024.
“F--- that man,” she said. “F--- them all!”
When the singer was asked about Vance’s 2021 comment that America is run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made”, she stated, “It is, bitch. It is. And this is what it looks like, honey.”
Kesha is the latest musician to condemn the Trump administration for unauthorized use of their music.
This week, U.K. band Radiohead reacted to their fan-favorite song “Let Down” being used on a promotional video for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The video, a montage of alleged crime victims, uses the caption, “American citizens raped and murdered by those who have no right to be in our country. This is who we fight for. This is our why.”
The band said in a statement, “We demand that the amateurs in control of the ICE social media account take it down. It ain’t funny, this song means a lot to us and other people, and you don’t get to appropriate it without a fight.”
The “Paranoid Android” hitmakers signed off, “Also, go f--- yourselves.”
In November, chart-topper Olivia Rodrigo slammed the Trump administration after her song “All-American Bitch” was also used in an ICE video. The clip encouraged undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. voluntarily.
“Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda,” Rodrigo posted on the video, before her comment was deleted, however her fans kept receipts through screenshots.
