The White House mocked folk-pop singer Noah Kahan on Thursday after he threw a public fit over his own song "American Cars" being used to highlight American manufacturing—reminding working Americans yet again which side the celebrity class stands on.
Why it matters: A Grammy-nominated singer whose breakout hit literally celebrates American cars decided that the wrong kind of American was celebrating it. The White House refused to grovel, and the clash exposes the reflexive hostility entertainers show toward an administration fighting for domestic industry.
The dispute started when the White House and the official POTUS Instagram account posted footage of President Trump touring a General Motors test facility in Michigan. The caption read "Made in America is BACK," and the video featured Kahan's track "American Cars."
Kahan responded in the comments Tuesday: "Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration." His co-writer, identified by Variety as Levine, was blunter, writing: "You fat f---, this song isn't for you." Kahan's comment racked up more than 55,000 likes, according to NJ.com. The audio has since been listed as "unavailable" on the post.
Rather than apologize, the White House punched back. Kaelan Dorr of the White House Office of Digital Strategy posted on X: "Symptoms of TDS apparently include having a northern attitude"—a jab at Kahan's hit song "Northern Attitude," which has over 700 million streams. Fox News first reported the exchange.
Kahan joins a growing roster of artists who have demanded the administration stop using their music. Katy Perry condemned the White House for playing "Firework" over footage of military strikes, calling it a "complete violation of everything my song stands for." Sabrina Carpenter slammed the administration for using her song "Juno" alongside footage of law enforcement arrests, calling the video "evil and disgusting." And last November, Olivia Rodrigo ripped DHS for using her song in a self-deportation post, calling it "racist, hateful propaganda."
DHS had a response ready for Rodrigo. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital: "America is grateful all the time for our federal law enforcement officers who keep us safe," referencing her own lyric. "We suggest Ms. Rodrigo thank them for their service, not belittle their sacrifice."
Kahan has mostly avoided national political fights, focusing instead on mental health advocacy through his Busyhead Project, a nonprofit aimed at ending stigma and improving access to mental health resources.
The pattern is clear: celebrities want cultural cache without cultural consequence. You can write a song called "American Cars" and rake in millions, but the moment an administration trying to rebuild domestic auto manufacturing uses it, the artist recoils as if touched by fire. Fox framed the clash as the White House turning Kahan's own hit against him; NJ.com buried the co-writer's profanity and framed the episode as yet another artist in a "music dispute" with the administration. The real dispute is between an elite entertainment class that treats patriotism as contamination and an administration that refuses to be shamed for championing American workers.
The open question: how many more artists will discover their own songs are incompatible with the country that made them possible?
