Olivia Rodrigo says Trump administration picks fights with pop stars

Grammy-winning singer Olivia Rodrigo says she believes the Trump administration deliberately provokes disputes with musicians to divert attention from more consequential controversies, renewing a yearlong feud that began when the Department of Homeland Security used her music in an immigration enforcement video.

Ms. Rodrigo made the comments in an interview that aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition” Sept. 3, reflecting on the fallout from a November 2025 DHS post that paired her 2023 song “All-American Bitch” with footage of immigration raids and a self-deportation appeal. “It was just awful to see a song that I wrote about feeling trapped in a misogynistic box that we put women in — this song being put to these just grotesque, cruel scenes of ICE raids,” she said.

Looking back on the episode, Ms. Rodrigo argued it followed a pattern.

“Picking fights with pop stars is a great distraction, while they do kind of other really awful, awful things,” she said. 

DHS did not back down from its original position; a spokesperson reiterated to USA Today that “we suggest Ms. Rodrigo thank them for their service, not belittle their sacrifice.”

Ms. Rodrigo is not the only pop star to clash with the administration over use of her music. Sabrina Carpenter objected in December 2025 after the White House set footage of ICE agents making arrests to her song “Juno,” calling the video “evil and disgusting” in a post on X. The White House pushed back, telling Fox News Digital it would not apologize for “deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles.”

Ariana Grande lodged a similar complaint in June, after the White House used her 2024 song “Bye” in a TikTok video showing border agents making arrests. Ms. Grande commented directly on the post that officials should not use her music “in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,” and the audio was later removed from the clip.

Ms. Rodrigo’s latest remarks came five days after her inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival in Irvine, California, which raised $10 million for the nonprofit Daisy Chain Field Fund. Philanthropist Melinda French Gates matched that donation, bringing the total to $20 million for organizations that focus on women and girls, including Planned Parenthood.