Language Settings
Select Website Language

Zara Larsson Blasts White House Over Song in Deportation Video

1 hour ago

Swedish singer Zara Larsson called the White House "losers" for using her song "Midnight Sun" in an ICE deportation TikTok. By Friday the video had gone silent.

A White House TikTok video celebrating ICE-led deportations fell silent on Friday, a day after Swedish singer Zara Larsson publicly condemned the administration for setting the footage to her song "Midnight Sun." By Friday morning the audio in the post was gone, replaced by the message "This sound is unavailable."

Larsson, a 28-year-old artist from Stockholm, aired her anger on Thursday in a TikTok addressed to her 12.5 million followers. She flashed an "L" sign with her thumb and index finger and called the White House "losers" for pairing a track she says celebrates the joy of Scandinavian nature with a montage of mass deportations. "It's just so f---ing uncool," she said. "You guys are such f---ing losers."

It was not immediately clear who removed the sound from the White House post. TikTok may have acted to protect Larsson's work, or the administration may have muted the video itself. Representatives for the platform and for the White House could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.

Larsson said her objection was not about taking a political side. "If you want to talk about politics and immigration politics, fine," she said. "But that's really not what this is. This video is so dehumanizing."

The White House clip appeared to show agents arresting men, presenting them as undocumented immigrants. Larsson said she was struck that several of the detainees were dressed in neon protective clothing of the kind worn on construction sites and highways. "These people in this video, they're real people. There's a f---ing guy in there with construction wear," she said. "He's working and a vast majority of these people who are undocumented are regular people with jobs. They're just trying to have a better future. I don't understand. I don't understand why you would do this video."

The singer tied her reaction to her own upbringing, saying she is acutely aware of how much of her success rests on where she was born. "I consider myself so lucky with the life that I've been dealt. The fact that I'm born in Sweden, I have healthcare, I've had an education, I've had all these opportunities just laid out in front of me," she said. "I can travel, I get to do all of these amazing things - that's luck. That's luck." She added that others "are not that lucky, and they want to have a better life for their families or for themselves and their children."

The clash fits a pattern for Larsson, who has often used her platform to speak out. She has been a longtime critic of Chris Brown over his history of domestic violence, telling Cosmopolitan earlier this year that she has removed certain artists from her listening. "There are so many artists I have blocked on Spotify, and all of them are, like, abusers," she said. "You certainly wouldn't find, like, a Chris Brown song."

Her outspokenness has also carried a cost. Larsson said this year that she lost a $3 million brand deal after making a dark joke to support a fan who revealed she had gotten an abortion following one of the singer's shows.

The dispute drew wide attention online, with "zara" ranking among the day's most-searched terms on Google Trends in India, where searches passed 100. As of Friday, neither TikTok nor the White House had explained why the audio was pulled or whether the video would be restored.

Zara Larsson, White House TikTok, Midnight Sun song, ICE deportations, immigration, Chris Brown, sound unavailable, TikTok controversy

Click here to Read More
Previous Article
Gold Pares Gains as Oil Trims Losses; 'Gold Rate' Trends in India
Next Article
Saudi Aramco Halts Next Month's Crude to European Refiners

Related India Updates:

Are you sure? You want to delete this comment..! Remove Cancel

Comments (0)

    Leave a comment