Olivia Rodrigo Calls Trump Administration's Pop-Star Feuds a 'Distraction' Tactic
Olivia Rodrigo says the Trump administration's pattern of picking fights with pop stars is a deliberate distraction from what she called its "other awful, awful things," according to an NPR interview published on 3 September 2026.
Rodrigo told NPR she found it awful to see her song "All-American Bitch" — a 2023 track about the misogynistic box society places women in — set to what she described as "grotesque, cruel scenes of ICE raids" in a Department of Homeland Security video released last November. The video glorified immigration enforcement operations and used her music as its soundtrack.
When Rodrigo first discovered the video in November 2025, she responded directly on the post: "don't ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda." That comment has since been deleted from the post, according to Deadline.
In a statement to Billboard, DHS pushed back. A spokesperson said "America is grateful all the time for our federal law enforcement officers who keep us safe" and suggested Rodrigo thank them for their service rather than "belittle their sacrifice."
Rodrigo has been consistent in her condemnation. In a separate interview published in June 2026, she told Variety she felt "enraged" when she learned her song had been used in what she called a "deeply disturbing" propaganda video, and she branded ICE "barbaric" and the Trump White House "barbaric, cruel."
She is not the only artist whose music the administration has co-opted. SZA wrote on X that the White House using her song "Big Boy" in a clip amounted to "rage baiting artists for free promo" and called it "PEAK DARK." A DHS official told Variety that the department made a video using Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia" knowing media brands would amplify it, telling the reporter: "Congrats, you got played." The White House also used a Sabrina Carpenter clip from Saturday Night Live for another ICE deportation video, doubling down on the tactic after the Rodrigo incident.
In the NPR interview, Rodrigo framed the broader pattern of these confrontations as misdirection. The administration's clashes with pop stars, she argued, serve to keep public attention on celebrity feuds while it pursues other policies away from scrutiny.
The interview coincided with the announcement of Rodrigo's inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival, which raised $20 million for charities supporting women and girls. Half of that total came from Melinda French Gates, who matched the initial donations dollar for dollar. On 3 September 2026, Rodrigo appeared on the digital cover of Rolling Stone alongside Chappell Roan, Doechii and Sarah McLachlan, all of whom were on the festival's lineup.
What gives the NPR interview its weight is Rodrigo's refusal to treat the song appropriation as a one-off grudge. She connected a DHS video using her music to a broader strategy of picking cultural fights with musicians — and then pointed to where she wanted attention instead: the $20 million her festival raised and the ICE operations she called barbaric. Whether the distraction framing catches on politically is a separate question. Rodrigo has made her position clear.
