SZA has slammed President Donald Trump for using her music in an ICE video for “free promo”.
On Tuesday (December 9), the White House posted a video promoting ICE deportations using SZA’s song ‘Big Boys’. The singer wrote the viral novelty song for her appearance as musical guest on Saturday Night Live in 2022.
Now, SZA has protested the use of her music for the video. She criticised Trump and the White House for “rage baiting artists for free promo”, calling it “PEAK DARK”.
She went on to hit out at the “inhumanity” and “shock and aw[e] tactics” of the White House, adding that it was “Evil n Boring”.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to the popstar in a statement to Variety, commenting: “Thank you, SZA, for drawing even more attention to the tremendous work America’s ICE officers are doing by arresting dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American communities.”
White House rage baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK ..inhumanity +shock and aw tactics ..Evil n Boring https://t.co/PIKoYEdn2y
— SZA (@sza) December 10, 2025
WE HEARD IT’S CUFFING SZN. ⛓️
Bad news for criminal illegal aliens. Great news for America. pic.twitter.com/cuXCdJjxWY
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 9, 2025
SZA joins a huge wave of artists protesting against the White House’s usage of their music in ICE deportation videos. Sabrina Carpenter recently hit out at Trump for using her music in an ICE video, writing: “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda”.
Though the White House took down the offending video, they later used a clip of her SNL performance to soundtrack another ICE video.
Meanwhile, Olivia Rodrigo attended anti-ICE protests in June, adding that she was “deeply upset” over the “violent deportations of my neighbors under the current administration”. She would also criticise ICE for using her song in a video encouraging self-deportation, writing: “Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.” ICE videos using the music of MGMT and The Cure were also removed due to official takedown requests.
Addison Rae also spoke out saying she was “disappointed and disturbed” by Trump’s ICE raids, while Shakira shared that she lived in “constant fear” as an immigrant in the US.
Following the raid he witnessed, Bad Bunny would also declare that his world tour would not come to the United States as he was afraid of ICE agents raiding his shows.
He was later announced as the headliner for next year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, where Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski and US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem confirmed that ICE agents would be present at the Super Bowl and that illegal immigrants would not be safe there.
In other news, Carpenter’s ‘House Tour’ was ranked at 34 in NME‘s 50 Best Songs of 2025 list. The entry read: “Pop’s reigning queen of innuendo sums up her M.O. on this effortlessly slinky funk bop, an extended come-on set to a sticky Janet Jackson-esque beat. When Sabrina Carpenter sings “I spent a little fortune on the waxed floors”, she isn’t complaining about the cost of polished mahogany.”
