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A new wave of tension has erupted between the music industry and the White House after Grammy-winning artist SZA condemned the administration for using her song in a social media video promoting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. The singer, whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe, accused the government of “rage-baiting” artists to generate engagement and spread what she described as “inhumane” propaganda.
The controversy began when the official White House social media accounts posted a montage of ICE officers in tactical gear conducting arrests of undocumented individuals. The video was set to SZA’s viral track “Big Boys,” a song originally recorded for a 2022 Saturday Night Live digital short. The administration paired the upbeat track with the caption: “WE HEARD IT’S CUFFING SZN. Bad news for criminal illegal aliens. Great
news for America.”
SZA quickly took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her outrage, calling the tactic “PEAK DARK.” She wrote, “White House rage baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK ..inhumanity + shock and aw tactics ..Evil n Boring.” Her manager, Terrence “Punch” Henderson, also weighed in, stating that using music to provoke responses from artists to amplify political agendas is “nasty business.”
The incident follows a similar pattern used by the White House to promote its aggressive immigration policies. In recent weeks, artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo have also called out the administration for using their music in deportation videos. Carpenter previously labeled a video using her song “Juno” as “evil and disgusting,” while Rodrigo demanded that her work not be used to benefit “racist, hateful propaganda.”
The White House has remained defiant in the face of these criticisms. Responding to SZA’s comments, spokesperson Abigail Jackson thanked the singer for “drawing even more attention to the tremendous work America’s ICE officers are doing.” This strategy of leaning into the backlash suggests the administration is intentionally targeting high- profile, liberal-leaning artists to spark viral “culture war” moments that amplify their policy messaging to a broader audience.
For SZA and her peers, the unauthorized use of their art to soundtrack state-sponsored arrests represents a violation of professional ethics and a deliberate attempt to misappropriate their creative voices for a narrative they fundamentally oppose.