Katy Perry is angry that the White House used Firework for the Iran attack video

JAKARTA - Katy Perry criticized the White House after her hit song, Firework, was used in a video featuring the US military's attack on Iran.

USA Today, quoted on Sunday, July 26, reported that the official TikTok account of the White House uploaded the video on July 23. The 2010 release song was used as background music, with the lyrics "boom boom boom" accompanying the visual of the military attack. The video was captioned "Iran has been warned."

Perry responded via X on July 25. He wrote that he was "very surprised and angry". He also emphasized that he had never given permission for the use of the song.

"I don't approve of this, I wasn't asked, and I absolutely do not condone it," Perry wrote.

Perry said Firework was written as a song about hope, recovery, and self-strength for people who are going through a difficult time.

"Seeing messages about self-esteem and the spirit to rise up armed as the background music to destruction and violence is a total violation of everything my songs stand for," he wrote.

"My music is made to bring people together, not to celebrate war," Perry said.

Kaelan Dorr, Deputy Assistant to President Donald Trump, responded to Perry's post by sharing a clip of Perry's 2012 music video, Part of Me. In the video, Perry is shown at a US military training camp.

"Is this you?" wrote Dorr.

The US military launched a new wave of attacks against Iran on July 23. The US Central Command confirmed the attack via X.

The US Central Command called the attack the 13th consecutive night. The goal, according to the agency, is to hold Iran accountable and reduce the threat of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping.

Trump still defends his administration's military operations against Iran. This attitude was taken even though the US House of Representatives voted to end the war with a result of 214-208. In the Senate, the vote was in favor of the president with a result of 49-47.

"We want to get it done, and we want to get it done right, but we have to do what we have to do," Trump said at an event at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.

"We cannot let them get what they want, which is nuclear weapons," he said.

USA Today noted that Perry is not the first musician to protest the White House's use of pop songs on social media.

Ariana Grande also criticized the White House TikTok video on June 9. According to reports from Reuters and The Guardian, the video showed federal agents arresting and handcuffing a number of people, with Grande's 2024 song, Bye, as the background music.

"Please never use my music in conjunction with this barbaric, inhumane, and despicable nonsense," Grande wrote. The audio and comments were later deleted.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to the criticism in a statement to USA Today on June 12. She said that the "barbaric, inhumane, and despicable" thing was criminal illegal immigrants who hurt and killed innocent Americans.

Kesha, Olivia Rodrigo, and Sabrina Carpenter have also criticized the White House for using their songs for different videos without permission.

Nancy Sinatra reacted after Trump uploaded a video on Truth Social on April 18. The video uses the song My Way sung by her late father, Frank Sinatra.

"This is blasphemy," Nancy Sinatra wrote on X a day after the post.