EXCLUSIVE: Inside Trump's Feuds With Pop Stars After Katy Perry Joined Hit List
The list of Donald Trump's feuds with pop stars has been growing after Katy Perry joined the list.
Aug. 6 2026, Updated 1:23 p.m. ET
Donald Trump is still locked in a new front in his long campaign of cultural combat – a rolling war against some of the world's biggest pop stars, whose music he borrows for his own political ends while publicly deriding them when they push back.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, the US president, 80, is now waging war in Iran and threatening invasions of Canada, Greenland, Cuba, Colombia and Panama, and has also ordered strikes in Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen and Nigeria.
But some of his most personal battles have played out not on foreign soil but in the glare of the entertainment world, as he clashes with Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Beyoncé – and a long list of other musicians who have denounced his policies or blocked him from using their songs.
Katy Perry Clashes With Trump
Katy Perry denounced the use of her music to promote warfare.
Perry was thrust into Trump's crosshairs last week after the White House used her 2010 hit Firework as the soundtrack to a video montage of military strikes titled "Iran has been warned."
As Perry sang "Boom! Boom! Boom!," the video showed bombs exploding.
She said: "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 added her music was supposed to be "for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare."
The 41-year-old singer's comments have sparked a fresh round of presidential recriminations.
Trump removed Firework from his video – only to retaliate by posting footage of Perry in military fatigues holding a weapon, spliced between images of Trump and fighter jets.
The rage came as the clip, taken from one of Perry's old music videos, was repurposed to suggest she was aligned with his hardline stance.
A senior political source exclusively told Radar: "If Katy Perry wants to lecture us about peace, she shouldn't be surprised when we remind people she once played a soldier on screen."
Taylor Swift Draws Trump's Fury
Taylor Swift and Beyonce drew presidential anger after endorsing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Swift's decision to endorse Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race marked another turning point in Trump's war on music's biggest names.
After months of publicly courting the singer's vote, Trump erupted online: "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!"
He posted the outburst on social media, and has also raged online: "Has anyone noticed that, since I said 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,' she's no longer 'HOT?'" This came despite Swift headlining a record-breaking world tour and releasing blockbuster albums.
One Harris campaign aide said: "Trump went from begging for her approval to belittling her success the moment she chose democracy over him."
Beyoncé has also become a target.
Trump falsely claimed she had been paid $10million to endorse Harris and appear at a 2024 rally in Houston, Texas, alleging the performer "left the stage to a booing and angry audience" – even though her event company received only $165,000 to cover costs and video evidence showed no jeering.
Trump escalated the feud last year, saying Beyoncé and every celebrity who backed Harris "should all be prosecuted."
A source close to Beyoncé said: "Trump tries to criminalise dissent – if you're not singing for him, he wants you silenced."
More Stars Hit Back
Ariana Grande condemned the White House for using her song during ICE arrests.
The pattern extends beyond those who criticise him outright.
The White House used Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny's song La Mudanza in a video showing federal agents handcuffing immigrants, in a move insiders acknowledge was designed to antagonise the Super Bowl headliner.
Trump called the artist "absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER," and "an affront to the Greatness of America," complaining by singing in Spanish, "nobody understands a word this guy is saying," despite tens of millions of Spanish speakers in the US alone.
Other stars have reacted angrily when their songs surfaced in Trump's output.
Ariana Grande was outraged when her track Bye backed a White House video of immigration arrests.
She wrote on social media: "Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense."
Sabrina Carpenter saw her song Juno turned into a soundtrack to another immigration clip, branding it "evil and disgusting." She added: "Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda."
Kesha called the White House administration "perverts" in February after her 2011 song Blow appeared on a Trump TikTok video of missile strikes titled Lethality.
White House Defends Strategy
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Steven Cheung admitted using pop songs to provoke reactions and views.
One Washington insider told us: "By provoking stars and leaning on their work without permission, Trump and his team court outrage and viral attention – it's a classic bid to try and stay relevant across all age groups online."
White House communications director Steven Cheung said: "All these 'singers' keep falling for this. This just gives us more attention and more view counts to our videos because people want to see what they're bitching about."
Our Washington insider added: "For Trump, the backlash from pop royalty is just another battlefront – and the noise is part of the strategy."
