Out queer singer Jess Glynne blasted the White House this week for using her song “Hold My Hand” in a video depicting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations. 

As the BBC notes, the 2015 single went viral last summer after it was used to score an ad for British budget airline Jet2. As Glynne told Billboard last year, “Hold My Hand” became inescapable in the U.K. nearly a decade after its initial release. More recently, the Jet2 ad has inspired a TikTok meme, with Glynne’s song soundtracking countless videos that mimic the ad’s POV style.

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“This song probably hits hard if you’re stupid.”

On Tuesday, July 29, the White House posted its own cruel version of the meme. The video, posted on X, shows ICE agents leading men, chained at the wrists and ankles, onto a Global Crossing Airlines (GlobalX) flight. According to a recent ProPublica investigation, the company is “the dominant player in the loose network of deportation contractors known as ICE Air.” Glynne’s song plays over the clip, including actress Zoë Lister’s cheerful voiceover from the Jet2 ad.

“When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation. Nothing beats it!” the post read, echoing Lister’s voiceover in the original ad.

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