White House Doubles Down, Uses Sabrina Carpenter SNL Clip in ICE Video Again

2 days ago7 min read

The White House has reignited a controversy by using a clip of singer Sabrina Carpenter from *Saturday Night Live* in a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) social media video. This marks the second such incident, coming after the artist publicly criticized the administration for its prior unauthorized use of her music.The move underscores a deliberate strategy to harness pop culture imagery for political messaging, despite clear opposition from the creator. Analysts view the tactic as an effort to rebrand the polarizing work of ICE with a veneer of mainstream, youthful appeal, aiming to reach audiences that typically disengage from traditional policy debates.The administration's decision to proceed, undeterred by previous backlash, suggests it views any negative celebrity reaction as an acceptable trade-off for broader narrative shaping. The incident raises significant legal and ethical questions about the digital appropriation of copyrighted performances for government propaganda.Communication experts note such actions often aim to pivot public discourse away from policy substance and toward meta-debates over media and celebrity. For Carpenter, it represents an involuntary co-opting of her platform. The persistence of this approach signals a hardening stance in political media relations, where cultural content is seen as fair game for messaging—potentially encouraging similar appropriation and further blurring the lines between entertainment, personal expression, and state-sponsored narrative.

#White House

#Sabrina Carpenter

#SNL

#ICE

#deportation

#immigration policy

#Trump administration

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