Katy Perry Says White House Used 'Firework' Without Permission on Iran Strike Video

Katy Perry says the White House used her song without asking, and she's not happy about it.

The official White House TikTok account posted a nine-second video on Thursday, July 23, showing black-and-white footage of U.S. missile strikes hitting port targets in Iran. The clip is captioned "Iran has been warned" with a fireworks emoji, and it's timed so the bridge of Perry's 2010 hit "Firework" — "boom, boom, boom, even brighter than the moon" — lines up with the explosions.

Perry found out and posted on X Saturday morning, July 25. "I am deeply appalled and angry to see 'Firework' used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes," she wrote. "I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it."

She went further, explaining what the song meant to her when she wrote it. "I wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and inner strength for people going through their darkest personal moments," Perry wrote, according to posts reviewed by Rolling Stone Australia, TheWrap, and Complex. "To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponized to soundtrack destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for. My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare."

Not the First, Won't Be the Last

Perry is the latest in a growing line of pop artists to publicly object to the White House's social media use of their music. Complex reported that Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and the Rolling Stones have all pushed back on similar grounds.

According to TheWrap, Ariana Grande's team commented directly on a White House TikTok in June that used her song "Bye," writing: "Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense." Sabrina Carpenter objected back in December after the administration set footage of arrests to her song "Juno," saying, "Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda."

Breitbart noted that Olivia Rodrigo said she was "enraged" last month after the White House used her song "All-American Bitch" in an ICE-related video. Rolling Stone Australia added that the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" — written by Jack White, an outspoken Trump critic — soundtracked a separate White House TikTok about military action earlier this month.

Rolling Stone Australia reported that the White House social team appears to specifically favor music by artists who are on record disliking Trump, as part of what the outlet called its "endless pursuit of shitposting."

The Legal Question Nobody's Answered

None of these artists have said whether they're pursuing legal action, and none of the four sources reviewed report that any lawsuit has been filed over the White House's music use.

Complex noted that "Jack White, Beyonce, and other artists have also threatened lawsuits for similar unapproved employment of their music" in the past, but a threat isn't a filing. Whether a sitting White House's social media use of copyrighted music for government messaging qualifies as fair use, falls under some other carve-out, or opens the administration to real copyright liability is a legitimately unsettled legal question. None of these outlets dig into it.

Political messaging using pop songs isn't new. Campaigns have fought over unauthorized song use for decades: Neil Young against Trump in 2020, the Rolling Stones against Trump in 2016, Bruce Springsteen against Reagan in 1984. What's different here is the venue. An official government account rather than a campaign, and enforcement-related content like ICE arrest footage rather than just campaign rallies.

Perry's history with Trump is relevant context, not a gotcha. Breitbart pointed out she's endorsed every Democratic presidential nominee running against Trump since 2016: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris. That doesn't make her objection to unauthorized use of her copyrighted work invalid. Artists across the political spectrum have objected to campaigns and now to this administration using their songs without permission. But it's fair for readers to know where she's coming from politically when she frames the use as a "complete violation."

Perry has kept a low public political profile for most of 2026, according to Breitbart, aside from a January social media post urging followers to "turn anger into action" after the shooting death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, and an April headline stemming from an Australian police investigation into sexual assault allegations made against her by actress Ruby Rose.

The White House has not issued a response to Perry's statement as of Saturday, and none of the sources indicate the TikTok video has been taken down.