Singer Kesha called the White House “perverts” after they used one of her hit songs in a graphic military video. She made it clear she was not okay with how her music was being used. The incident began on February 10, when the White House posted a TikTok video called Lethality.
According to The Daily Beast, the 30-second clip, which got over 1.9 million views, showed a jet firing a missile at a ship, causing a large explosion, along with other military footage. The video was set to Kesha’s 2011 song Blow. Kesha said she was told the White House used her track to “incite violence and threaten war.”
“Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane,” Kesha wrote on social media. She added, “I absolutely do NOT approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind. Love always trumps hate.” She also said the video showed a “blatant disregard for human life” and was “the opposite of what I stand for.”
Artists are pushing back hard as the government keeps using their music without permission
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded, writing, “All these ‘singers’ keep falling for this. This just gives us more attention and more view counts to our videos because people want to see what they’re b—— about.” About 30 minutes later, Kesha posted on X: “Stop using my music, perverts @WhiteHouse.”
Kesha also took a shot at Trump, pointing to the Epstein files disappearing from public view as something people should not lose sight of. Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr then said, “Kesha quotes are like Popeye’s Spinach to this team. Memes? They’ll continue. Winning? Will also continue.”
It’s worth noting that Dorr has 50,000 followers on X and Cheung has 137,000, while Kesha has 2.8 million. Her song Blow reached No. 7 in 2011 and has been streamed over 330,000 times on Spotify, and Kesha has over 11 billion total streams and 41 million monthly listeners.
Kesha has spoken out politically before. In 2024, when asked about JD Vance, she said, “F— that man. F— them all!” When asked about his 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,”
Kesha replied, “It is, b—-. It is. And this is what it looks like, honey.” She is far from the only public figure openly clashing with the White House; Gavin Newsom also made headlines recently for trolling Trump during his State of the Union, which prompted a sharp response from the administration.
UK band Radiohead also had their song Let Down used in a promotional video for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which showed alleged crime victims with the caption, “American citizens raped and murdered by those who have no right to be in our country.”
The band responded, “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.” They ended with, “Also, go f— yourselves.”
Singer Olivia Rodrigo also faced the same situation in November, when her song All-American B—- was used in an ICE video encouraging undocumented immigrants to leave the US voluntarily. Rodrigo commented directly on the video, “Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.” The comment was deleted, but fans took screenshots before it disappeared.
Published: Mar 3, 2026 12:15 pm