Overview
- The White House posted a Feb. 10 TikTok set to Kesha’s 2010 track “Blow,” showing a fighter jet firing a missile at a naval ship under the caption “Lethality,” drawing more than 14 million views and about 1.8 million likes.
- Kesha said her music was used “to incite violence and threaten war,” called the video “disgusting and inhumane,” and labeled President Donald Trump a “criminal predator” while referencing mentions of him in the Epstein files.
- White House communications director Steven Cheung mocked the backlash on X, writing that singers “keep falling for this” and that the outrage boosts views; deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr said “Kesha quotes are like Popeye’s Spinach to this team.”
- At the time of the latest reports, the TikTok remained online and the White House offered no apology, directing outlets to staff posts when asked for comment.
- The dispute follows a broader pattern of artists objecting to the administration’s use of their songs on social media, with recent pushback from Radiohead, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter and SZA, and mixed outcomes ranging from takedowns to legal settlements.