The official Team Trump account posted a video soundtracked by the singer’s hit song “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)”
Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty; Chip Somodevilla/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Ariana Grande criticized Trump’s political team for using her music in TikTok videos promoting anti-trans policies
- The Team Trump account posted a video that included Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” on Thursday, Aug. 20
- Her demand that his team stop using her music comes months after previously condemning the administration for using her music without permission
Ariana Grande continues to demand that President Donald Trump stop using her music.
On Thursday, Aug. 20, the Team Trump TikTok account posted a video that used Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” as its soundtrack. In the clip, Trump can be seen participating in a viral trend inspired by the song’s lyric “Me and my truth we sit in silence.”
The video depicts Trump, 80, walking to a podium at a rally, with the aforementioned text and “Men can’t have babies and should never compete in women’s sports” written underneath.
“This shouldn’t be controversial! #trump #arianagrande #maga,” the post’s caption read.
The Oscar nominee, 33, replied in the comments, demanding that his team stop using her music and denouncing the claim. “Never use my music again. Also, your truth is false,” she wrote. Her comment is no longer visible.
Credit: Team Trump/Tiktok
The post comes months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in a joint decision of West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox that states can ban trans women from competing in women’s sports without violating their rights under Title IX or the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
The June 30 ruling follows the Trump administration’s ongoing anti-trans agenda. In May, the Supreme Court announced that the Trump administration can move forward with the “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” executive order, which will ban transgender people from the U.S. military.
At the start of his second term, the president signed an executive order on his first day back in office, declaring that the United States will recognize only two “immutable” sexes, male and female.
Government-issued identity documents should reflect a person’s sex “at conception,” per the order, prompting the State Department to suspend processing passport applications from Americans seeking to change their gender marker on official documents.
The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration on the issue in November 2025.
Credit: Team Trump/Tiktok
Meanwhile, this is Grande’s second time condemning the president’s use of her music to promote policies she doesn’t condone. On June 9, the White House published a TikTok video set to Grande’s song “Bye” and promoted its crackdown on immigration, featuring various clips of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and officers from other agencies arresting people.
“Bye-bye 👋 President Trump has delivered the most secure border in history,” the caption read, referencing Grande’s song from the Eternal Sunshine album.
Grande replied June 11, commenting: “Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. fck ice.” Shortly after, the track was muted on the video.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Grande is one of many musicians who have told the Trump administration to stop using their music, including Sabrina Carpenter, Katy Perry, SZA, Adele, Steven Tyler, Neil Young, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Céline Dion, ABBA, The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, The White Stripes’ Jack White, as well as the estates of Prince and Sinéad O’Connor.
Read the full article here
