Pop star Olivia Rodrigo appeared in a promotional video criticizing President Donald Trump for signing a law she described as "defunding" Planned Parenthood, the latest in a string of celebrity broadsides against the administration's domestic and immigration policies.
The 22-year-old singer, songwriter was featured in a clip posted Wednesday on X and Instagram by Daisy Chain Fields, an upcoming all-women music festival. The video opened with a close-up of Rodrigo before the camera pulled back to reveal a crowd of women, with on-screen text claiming that "nearly 30 Planned Parenthood health centers have closed since President Donald Trump signed a law 'defunding' Planned Parenthood." Rodrigo's song "My Way" played over the footage. The text concluded: "But we'll never stop fighting for sexual and reproductive health care!!!"
The video did not name the specific law, cite a statute, or provide a date for the signing. Nor did it identify the source of the claim that nearly 30 clinics had closed. The Daily Mail reported on the video Wednesday, noting that Rodrigo was pictured in Las Vegas, Nevada, the same day. The outlet said it had reached out to the White House for comment but had not received a response.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson offered a statement to Variety praising the singer's involvement:
"It means the world to us that Olivia is so deeply engaged in the fight for abortion rights, especially when access to the care Planned Parenthood health centers provide is threatened like never before."
Johnson added that Rodrigo "using her platform to work with Planned Parenthood goes so far in educating people about reproductive freedom and the essential care Planned Parenthood health centers provide." Planned Parenthood provides abortions in some states where the procedure is legal. Rodrigo received the organization's Catalyst of Change Award last year.
Two additional videos shared by the Daisy Chain Fields account featured conversations with Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, and Rachel Rodriguez, chief people and culture officer at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. Both clips focused on education and advocacy, though their specific content was not detailed.
What stands out is the gap between the video's confident framing and the facts available to support it. The on-screen text presented the closure of "nearly 30" clinics as settled fact linked to a specific law Trump signed. But neither the video nor the reporting around it identified the law by name, date, or legislative history. Readers were given a conclusion without the receipts, a pattern that has become familiar when celebrity advocacy meets policy.
This is not the first time Rodrigo has clashed publicly with the administration. In November 2025, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security posted a pro-ICE video set to her song "All-American B****" that urged illegal immigrants to "self-deport." Rodrigo responded bluntly: "don't ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda."
DHS fired back with its own statement: "America is grateful all the time for our federal law enforcement officers who keep us safe. We suggest Ms. Rodrigo thank them for their service, not belittle their sacrifice." The exchange captured the broader friction between the administration's immigration enforcement messaging and the entertainment industry's opposition to it, a friction that has only widened since.
In an interview with Dazed Magazine about the ICE video, Rodrigo said: "It was so deeply disturbing to see that propaganda, and the fact it was my song in there made me feel even more enraged." She added: "What they're doing is so awful and barbaric and cruel. I am really sad to be in a country that thinks that's OK." Trump's administration has used its executive authority aggressively across multiple fronts, drawing praise from supporters and condemnation from critics in roughly equal measure.
Earlier, in June of last year, Rodrigo took to Instagram stories amid coverage of ICE operations in Los Angeles:
"I've lived in LA my whole life and I'm deeply upset about these violent deportations of my neighbors under the current administration. LA simply wouldn't exist without immigrants. Treating hardworking community members with such little respect, empathy, and due process is awful."
She continued: "I stand with the beautiful, diverse community of Los Angeles and with immigrants all across America. I stand for our right to freedom of speech and freedom to protest." The statements framed federal immigration enforcement as an attack on communities rather than a lawful exercise of border and interior security, a framing that tracks with progressive advocacy groups but sits at odds with the concerns of voters who supported tougher enforcement at the ballot box.
Rodrigo is far from alone. A parade of musicians has objected publicly after the administration used their songs in official or campaign-adjacent videos. In December 2025, the White House shared a clip featuring Sabrina Carpenter's song "Juno" set to footage of ICE agents arresting suspected illegal immigrants. Carpenter responded on X: "This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda."
In February, Radiohead rebuked the administration for using its song "Let Down" from the album OK Computer in an ICE video. In June of this year, Ariana Grande criticized the use of her 2024 song "Bye" in a pro-ICE video. That same month, Katy Perry objected after a video of U.S. military strikes on Iran featured her hit "Firework." The Iran strikes themselves generated political conflict in Congress, but the music dispute added a culture-war layer to an already contentious policy debate.
The pattern is consistent: the administration posts a video using a popular song to amplify its message, the artist objects loudly, and the resulting media cycle generates far more attention than the original clip ever would have on its own. Whether the administration benefits from the confrontation or the artists do is an open question. What is clear is that both sides keep returning to the fight.
Rodrigo herself has had mixed results in pushing back. In November 2024, a Team Trump TikTok video used her song "Deja Vu" to celebrate Trump's election victory. A screenshot of a disapproving comment attributed to Rodrigo went viral, but was later found to have been faked. Still, Rodrigo successfully pressured TikTok to remove her music from the video.
Rodrigo's political engagement is not new, though its tone has shifted. In 2021, she visited the White House to help raise awareness of the Biden administration's vaccination efforts, leveraging her influence with young fans. That appearance was cooperative and upbeat, a celebrity lending star power to a government initiative. The hostility in recent years toward the current administration reflects a broader pattern of intensifying rhetoric from public figures on the left, a trend that shows no sign of slowing.
Rodrigo, now 23, grew up in Temecula, California, and has lived in Los Angeles for much of her life. Her evolution from Disney Channel actress to Grammy-winning artist to outspoken progressive advocate has tracked neatly with the entertainment industry's leftward shift on issues from abortion to immigration. The Catalyst of Change Award from Planned Parenthood last year formalized what had already been obvious: Rodrigo is not a reluctant political voice. She is an eager one.
The question that the Wednesday video leaves unanswered is the one that matters most: what law, specifically, did Trump sign, and what is its actual effect on Planned Parenthood funding? The video's on-screen text asserted a direct causal link between a presidential signature and the closure of nearly 30 clinics. But without a statute name, a date, or an independent verification of the clinic-closure figure, the claim functions as advocacy rather than argument. It asks the audience to trust the framing and skip the footnotes.
That approach may work on Instagram. It should not work in public debate. When a celebrity with millions of followers makes a specific policy claim against a sitting president, the claim deserves a specific answer, and specific evidence. Neither appeared in the video.
Accountability runs in both directions. If Planned Parenthood clinics are closing, taxpayers and patients deserve to know exactly why, backed by statute and budget line. And if the claim is overstated, the people being frightened by it deserve to know that, too.
