Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan is leading the latest charge of musicians firing back against the White House for stealing their songs.
The chart-topping folk-pop star publicly repudiated the administration on Tuesday after official White House accounts overlaid his track “American Cars” onto a video featuring President Donald Trump visiting General Motors’ flagship test facility in Michigan.
After fans began tagging Kahan in the comments section, he made his stance clear.
“Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration,” Kahan wrote.
His co-writer, Noah Levine, was even more blunt, addressing Trump directly, “You fat f--- this song isn’t for you.”
While the audio track was subsequently muted on Instagram, it remained active on the White House’s official TikTok account. Kahan’s music is in the public Instagram library, and anyone can use it.
The dust-up comes as the White House has been aggressively using popular music to soundtrack its digital communications strategy, regardless of whether the artists approve. Just days ago, pop star Katy Perry expressed fury after her 2010 hit “Firework” was paired with a TikTok montage of military strike footage titled “Iran has been warned,” synced to her lyric “Boom boom boom.”
Perry declared she was “deeply appalled and angry,” adding that she “was not asked” and “absolutely do not condone it.”
“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,” Perry said. “My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.”
Rather than apologizing, the White House doubled down. After removing “Firework,” official accounts published a fresh video set to Perry’s 2012 song “Part of Me,” splicing actual footage of the singer from her military-themed music video alongside shots of Trump and fighter jets. White House aide Kaelan Dorr taunted Perry on X by sharing the video with a simple caption: “Hi” accompanied by a waving hand emoji.
The administration’s persistent unauthorized use of music has alienated a growing roster of major artists. Musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Jack White, Celine Dion, Kesha, Olivia Rodrigo, and the Rolling Stones have all publicly condemned the administration for utilizing their catalog without permission.
In June, Ariana Grande slammed the White House after her 2024 track “Bye” served as the soundtrack for a TikTok video showing federal immigration officers arresting and handcuffing individuals. Pop star Sabrina Carpenter similarly hit out at the White House for using her music in social media posts spotlighting immigration enforcement operations.
The White House was contacted for comment, and a spokesperson pointed the Beast towards an X post about Kahan by Deputy Assistant to the president, Kaelan Dorr, in which Dorr accused Kahan of having Trump Derangement Syndrome.
“Symptoms of TDS apparently include having a northern attitude,” he wrote, attempting to make a joke about Kahan’s song “Northern Attitude.”
