Katy Perry ‘appalled’ after White House used her song in Iran bombing video
Katy Perry ‘appalled’ after White House used her song in Iran bombing video
Poppy WoodSun, July 26, 2026 at 4:43 PM UTC
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Katy Perry said she had intended for the 2010 song to be ‘an anthem of hope, healing and inner strength’ - Borja B. Hojas/Getty Images
Katy Perry has said she is “appalled” that the White House used her hit pop song Firework in a TikTok video trumpeting US strikes on Iran.
The American singer said she had intended for the 2010 song to be “an anthem of hope, healing and inner strength” and that her “music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare”.
“I am deeply appalled and angry to see ‘Firework’ used on the White House TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes. I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it,” Ms Perry wrote on X.
“To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponised to soundtrack destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for.”
Perry condemned the Trump administration’s ‘weaponisation’ of the song and called it ‘a complete violation of everything it stands for’ - Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The White House used the song to accompany a short video it posted on its TikTok account on Thursday celebrating its strikes on Iran.
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The nine-second clip spliced together black-and-white footage of explosions in time with Ms Perry’s lyrics: “Boom boom boom. Even brighter than the moon, moon moon.”
Ms Perry no longer holds the music rights to Firework, after selling the bulk of her pop catalogue in a $225m (£182m) deal with Litmus Music in 2023. She remains one of the credited songwriters on the track.
Perry sold the bulk of her pop catalogue to Litmus Music for £182m in 2023 - Stefano Dalle Luche/AGF/Shutterstock
The pop singer, who is dating Justin Trudeau, the former Canadian prime minister, handed over the rights to many of her multi-platinum hits including Teenage Dream, Hot ‘n’ Cold, California Gurls and I Kissed A Girl as part of the sale.
The latest White House stunt is one of many social media videos that the Trump administration has shared in an ongoing “meme war” between Washington and Tehran that has lasted throughout the Iran conflict.
An Iranian state-linked account posted an AI-generated video earlier this week mocking Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, as a Lego figurine named “Little Marco”.
Set to a spoof rap song, the video shows Mr Rubio in a bathtub and asks sarcastically about US strikes on Iran: “Were they made out of Lego?”
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
