Zara Larsson blasted the White House for using her song “Midnight Sun” in a TikTok post depicting ICE agents handcuffing and deporting people, captioned “Never ending deportations.”
Larsson replied with a video on her personal TikTok, holding an “L” up to her forehead and saying, “I’m just sad. My heart is heavy seeing that, because I wish I could speak to whoever made that video. I wish I could talk to you, and I wish I could help you remember that you and I, we aren’t that different. And we’re not that different from the people in the video, either. The biggest difference between us is that we were dealt a different hand in life.”
She adds, “I consider myself so lucky with the life that I’ve been dealt. The fact that I’m born in Sweden, I’ve had an education and I’ve had all these opportunities just sort of laid out in front of me. I get to travel and do all these amazing things. That’s luck. There are people out there who are not that lucky, and they want to have a better life for their families. I just don’t understand how it could be the worst thing in the world to be an undocumented immigrant. This video is so dehumanizing.”
The singer concludes by saying, “These people in the video are real people. There’s a fucking guy in there with construction wear. He’s working. These people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs, and they’re just trying to have a better future. It’s so crazy how everything is so meme-ified, especially ‘Midnight Sun,’ which is about feeling connected to nature, the universe and people. And this just creates this massive divide between people. It’s so fucking uncool. You guys are such fucking losers.”
Earlier this year, the White House used another of Larsson’s songs, posting a video of President Donald Trump dancing to “Lush Life” with phrases supporting the Trump administration on the screen, including “WE LOVE ICE and our law enforcement!”
Larsson posted an Instagram story in response that read, “I love immigrants, I love criminals, I love trans people, I love abortions, I love queers, I love slutty women, I love contraception, I love welfare, I love socialism, I fucking hate ICE.”
Many artists have slammed the White House for using their songs without permission, with Ariana Grande recently speaking out after her song “bye” was used in a video similarly showing ICE agents making arrests.
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“Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,” Grande’s comment read. “Fck ice.”
See Larsson’s full response below.
From Variety US