Radiohead have slammed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and demanded they remove a social media video featuring their song “Let Down”.
The UK rockers claim ICE were not authorised to use the track from their 1997 album, OK Computer, which has featured in a video posted across multiple government social media accounts, including those belonging to the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and President Donald Trump.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the video featured photographs of American citizens whom ICE claimed had been “raped and murdered by those who have no right to be in our country.”
“We demand that the amateurs in control of the ICE social media account take it down,” Radiohead said in a statement. “It ain’t funny, this song means a lot to us and other people, and you don’t get to appropriate it without a fight.
“Also, go fuck yourselves… Radiohead.”
This incident comes after guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s recent demand for a portion of his Phantom Thread score to be removed from the Melania Trump documentary. Greenwood claimed Universal failed to consult him on the third-party use, constituting “a breach of his composer agreement,” despite not owning the copyright to the score.
The Trump administration has repeatedly drawn criticism from artists whose music appears in government social media content. Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, and SZA have all condemned the unauthorised use of their songs in immigration-related propaganda videos. However, current social media licensing structures leave artists with limited recourse to actually remove such content.
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SZA summarised the situation bluntly, stating: “White House rage baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK ..inhumanity +shock and aw[e] tactics ..Evil n Boring.” The administration typically responds to artist objections with wordplay and puns, as demonstrated by a White House spokesperson’s retort to Carpenter: “Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter.”




