Ariana Grande Tells Team Trump: "Never Use My Music Again" After TikTok Post Uses Her Song
Ariana Grande has told the Team Trump TikTok account to stop using her music, after a post on the platform soundtracked one of her songs over footage of Donald Trump walking toward a podium.
On Thursday, 20 August, the Team Trump TikTok account posted a video of Trump approaching a podium at a speaking engagement. The clip used Grande's 2024 single "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)," from her album Eternal Sunshine. The caption quoted a lyric from the track — "Me and my truth we sit in silence" — alongside the statement "Men can't have babies and should never compete in women's sports," and the hashtags #trump, #arianagrande and #maga, according to Billboard.
Grande, 33, responded directly in the comments of the post. "Never use my music again," she wrote. "Also, your truth is false" Billboard.
This is the second time in three months that Grande has publicly demanded the Trump administration stop using her work. In June 2026, the White House posted a TikTok video promoting its immigration crackdown that used a version of Grande's 2024 song "Bye" over footage of federal agents handcuffing people, as reported by the BBC and Variety.
Grande condemned that video in stark terms. "Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense," she wrote at the time. "F— ICE" Billboard. She was one of several artists who asked the Trump team not to use their music in connection with the ICE posts, the BBC reported.
Grande had already made her position on the administration's immigration enforcement visible on a major stage. At the 2026 Golden Globes, she wore an "ICE Out" pin in support of the anti-ICE movement Billboard.
The use of popular music by political campaigns without artist consent has a long history in the United States, and artists' objections are typically handled through cease-and-desist letters or public statements rather than legal action. Whether a political social media account's use of a song constitutes fair use or an unlicensed synchronisation — the placing of music against video — often depends on the specific platform, the length of the clip, and whether the account is an official government channel or a campaign operation. Team Trump's TikTok account operates as a campaign-affiliated presence rather than an official government account.
For Grande, the latest comment was shorter and more direct than her June response. No legal action has been reported in connection with either post.
