Ben Stiller has criticized the White House after it shared footage from his 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder in a social media video intended to promote US military activity tied to the Iran conflict.
The Trump administration post featured a montage of clips from various films and TV series—among them Top Gun, Superman, Transformers, Breaking Bad and Iron Man—intercut with real-life shots of US military operations.
“Justice the American way,” the White House captioned their post.
Stiller responded online by urging the administration to remove his film from the edit, writing: “Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip.”
“We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie,” he added.
His comments come amid a wider pattern of entertainers objecting to their work being used without approval in political messaging. Artists including Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Linkin Park, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter and Radiohead have also spoken out in recent months.
JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. 🇺🇸🔥 pic.twitter.com/0502N6a3rL
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 6, 2026
Earlier this week, Kesha raised a similar complaint after the White House used her song ‘Blow’ in a Feb. 10 video showing a fighter jet firing a missile at a naval ship.
“It’s come to my attention that The White House has used one of my songs on TikTok to incite violence and threaten war,” said the singer on Instagram. “Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane.”
She also reiterated that she ‘absolutely’ does not ‘approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind.’
The administration did not appear to retreat from the approach. White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung defended the tactic, suggesting the backlash itself was beneficial because it drove attention to their content.
“All these ‘singers’ keep falling for this,” he wrote on X. “This just gives us more attention and more view counts to our videos because people want to see what they’re bitching about. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Disputes over the White House’s social media output haven’t been limited to musicians and actors. Nintendo has also objected to the unauthorized use of its intellectual property after Pokémon characters appeared in political memes shared during the Trump era.
One example involved a small image of Pikachu paired with the slogan “Make America Great Again”. Nintendo responded with a statement emphasizing it had no involvement and had not granted permission for its characters to be used that way.
“We were not involved in its creation or distribution, and no permission was granted for the use of our intellectual property. “Our mission is to bring the world together, and that mission is not affiliated with any political viewpoint or agenda.”
The company has previously pushed back on similar uses, including an incident last September when its theme music and the phrase “Gotta catch ’em all” appeared in a video showing arrests carried out by US border patrol and immigration agents.
It remains unclear whether Nintendo plans to pursue legal action over the memes. Separately, the company is currently suing the US Government over tariffs introduced last year that it has described as ‘unlawful’, and it is seeking full repayment with interest.