The Trump administration is under fire again for its insensitivity towards the immigration crackdown. The backlash came after the White House posted clips of ICE detentions using a song from the 2024 movie Wicked. The move was deemed controversial and problematic by netizens who called out the insensitive post.
The White House’s social media has stirred up controversy more than a few times in the past few months. Insensitive memes and songs mocking detained immigrants have led social media users to question the administration’s online activity repeatedly.
The White House using Wicked sounds but I huurdddd….. pic.twitter.com/97tNQYDIwY
— Exposing (@LifeofaTroll6) November 21, 2025
The post struck the wrong chord yet again, this time while using a song from the movie Wicked featuring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. The now-viral video posted on TikTok features a compilation of clips that show immigrants being detained.
The track ‘Defying Gravity’ from the 2024 movie plays in the background while heartbreaking visuals fill the screen. The video was posted to the White House’s official account to celebrate the success of the biggest crackdown in the nation’s history.
“Ahhh that deportation feeling…” the caption alongside the video reads. “Holding space for this,” it further reads. Several clips show several people being handcuffed and separated from their families.
Social media users were quick to condemn the “insensitive” video while questioning why the White House was posting that kind of video. “The WHITE HOUSE posting this is so dystopian,” one user wrote.
“Cynthia and Ariana better be suing them for this video,” another added. A third claimed that Cynthia would not “approve of her voice being used for this.” Many others criticized the Trump administration for its unprofessionalism and lack of empathy for the detainees.
Even Trump supporters chimed in while noting how inappropriate the post was. “This is terrible. I am a Republican and cannot believe this. So disappointed in the way this administration treats humanity,” one netizen’s comment read.
Another pointed out how the fact that an official government page was posting such videos “says everything it needs to…” One user slammed the President by adding, “America is officially not great.”
Tracy E. Gilchrist, a journalist with Queer media, spoke with Out Magazine while harshly criticizing the President. She began by noting how the White House could not have Defying Gravity or holding space. “Especially not to promote the heinous acts ICE is perpetrating in this country,” she emphasized.
Gilchrist went on to accuse the Trump administration of “appropriating music,” which was embraced by the queer culture. The journalist noted how they continue doing the same “even as they erase and demonize us.”
The “holding space” for “Defying Gravity” journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist tells Variety what “holding space” really means:
“I was very inspired by Tony Morrison, [senior communications director] from GLAAD. He posted the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ before I did my interview. It… pic.twitter.com/kdbHf1ospE
— Variety (@Variety) November 26, 2024
She also noted that the song used by the official account was a “beloved empowerment anthem” for queer people and “others who don’t fit into neat boxes.” The journalist added Wicked is one of the movies that is “audacious enough to hold a mirror up to this presidency.”
She pointed out that the people who are being “called out” in the movie are going on to “appropriate it and ruin it for us.” Gilchrist concluded her opinion by adding that the community “won’t let them have it.”
