If there’s one thing Olivia Rodrigo has proven throughout her career, it’s that she genuinely cares about the people who listen to her music. Whether she’s speaking about women’s rights, reproductive freedom, or immigrant communities, Olivia has never treated her platform as something separate from her values.
That’s why one of the most upsetting moments of her recent career had nothing to do with chart positions, celebrity drama, or criticism online. Instead, it involved seeing her own music used in a government video promoting deportations.
For an artist whose songs are deeply personal and often centered on empathy, vulnerability, and human connection, watching her work become attached to a message she fundamentally disagrees with felt like a betrayal of everything she intended that music to represent.
Why Olivia Rodrigo Called Out ICE and the Trump Administration
The controversy began in late 2025 when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the White House, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shared a social media video promoting deportation efforts.
The video showed federal agents detaining individuals, as well as footage of people in restraints boarding planes. It also encouraged undocumented immigrants to voluntarily leave the country through the government’s CBP Home app, warning that those who stayed could face consequences.
Playing in the background was Olivia Rodrigo’s 2023 hit song all-american bitch.
The use of the song immediately sparked backlash online, but nobody reacted more strongly than Rodrigo herself. She commented directly on the post, writing:
“Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.”
In another comment, she added:
“Ew, don’t use my sound ever again.”
Screenshots of the comments quickly spread across social media. Soon after, the song was removed from the video, leaving users unable to hear the original audio.
The administration later responded through a DHS spokesperson, who defended the video and criticized Rodrigo’s remarks.
Olivia Rodrigo Reveals How the Video Made Her Feel
Months later, Olivia Rodrigo reflected on the incident during interviews with British Vogue and Dazed, offering a much deeper look into her reaction.
Speaking to British Vogue, she described the situation as “awful” and “dystopian,” saying that watching communities being torn apart by immigration enforcement was deeply disturbing.
But it was her comments to Dazed that revealed just how personal the experience felt.
According to Rodrigo, she discovered the video while casually scrolling on her phone. The shock of seeing her own voice attached to footage she viewed as harmful left her feeling furious.
“It was so deeply disturbing to see that propaganda, and the fact it was my song in there made me feel even more enraged,” she said.
She went on to call the situation “awful and barbaric and cruel,” adding that she felt saddened to live in a country where many people considered those actions acceptable.
Rodrigo also explained that speaking up about issues like immigration is part of what she believes artists should do. While she admits she doesn’t have all the answers, she feels a responsibility to stay informed and be honest about how she feels when she sees injustice.
At the heart of her reaction was something much bigger than a copyright dispute. For Olivia Rodrigo, it was about witnessing real people suffer while her music was being used as part of the message.
