The Department of Homeland Security this week publicly lambasted Zach Bryan, one of the biggest superstars in country music, for an unreleased song critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Bryan teased the still-unreleased song via Instagram last week. In the snippet of the track included, ostensibly titled The Fading of the Red White and Blue, he sings: “I heard the cops came, cocky motherf–kers ain’t they? / And ICE is gonna come bust down your door / Try to build a house no one builds no more / Well I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone.”
Government officials were quick to respond. Taking to X, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted footage of ICE arrests scored by Bryan’s song Revival, along with the caption “we’re having an All Night Revival.” When asked for comment by TMZ, DHS assistant secretary of public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said he should “stick to Pink Skies, dude,” referencing another one of Bryan’s songs.
In a series of a follow-up Instagram posts, Bryan addressed the controversy the song has caused while claiming the reaction was out of proportion to its actual centrist message.
In a story post Tuesday evening, the U.S. navy veteran said he wrote the song three months ago and never meant it to be divisive. He wrote he was “proud” to have served his country, and claimed when the song is heard in full “you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle.”
“Everyone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are,” he wrote. “To see how much s–t it stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared. Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American. To be clear, I’m on neither of these radical sides.”
In the excerpt of the song, Bryan does sing about general discord in American society, in the lyrics: “The middle fingers rising and it won’t stop showing / Got some bad news / The fading of the red white and blue.”
But in the face of an increasingly divisive immigration policy, and wider debates around political activism and dissension, Bryan’s song was quickly pulled into the conversation of politically aligned art. In fact, it is not even the first time the DHS has been involved in a war over X with a celebrity.
Social media slights
The Trump administration has come under increasing fire for its raids — part of what the president has pledged will become “the largest mass deportation in history.” The unit’s agents — often masked and unidentified — have made roughly three times as many arrests May through June compared to the same period last year, according to the University of California Berkeley School of Law’s Deportation Data project.
At the same time, the agency has increased its social media presence, often pairing footage of ICE arrests with popular songs, memes or even brand images. In a video this past month, the DHS posted footage of comedian and YouTuber Theo Von saying, “Heard you got deported dude, bye.” That was followed by information on the number of deportations the Trump administration had made thus far.
“Yooo DHS i didn’t approve to be used in this. I know you know my address so send a check. And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos,” Von wrote in a since-deleted response. “When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!”
DHS subsequently took down the video. But shortly after, the account was the subject of another copyright issue: after it posted footage of border patrol and ICE agents alongside the slogan “Gotta catch ‘em all,” underscored with the Pokemon theme song. The Pokemon Company International subsequently said it was an unauthorized use of their brand.
“Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property,” it said in a statement to BBC. The post is currently still up on the DHS X account.
