Iran war news: Ben Stiller demands White House remove Tropic Thunder clip supporting Middle East conflict

The White House has earned the ire of one of Hollywood’s biggest names after they used a clip from the movie Tropic Thunder to glorify war efforts in the Middle East.

Ben Stiller has called out the US Government over a post on their social media accounts using the vision in a compilation video of several high profile action flicks to promote war efforts against Iran.

“Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip,” Stiller said on X.

“We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie.”

Stiller, 60, shared the statement on Friday, after Donald Trump’s administration used snippets from movies and TV shows including Top Gun, Superman, Transformers, Breaking Bad and Iron Man, plus Stiller’s 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder.

The clips were intertwined with US military operations in the Middle East in an attempt to glamorise the battles taking place across multiple borders.

“Justice the American way,” the White House said in the caption for the post.

Stiller is one of many celebrities who have spoken out after the White House used their content reportedly without permission, including Céline Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Linkin Park, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo and Radiohead according to reports in People.

Singer Kesha spoke out after the White House used her song “Blow” in a video that featured a fighter jet firing a missile at a naval ship and an explosion.

“It’s come to my attention that The White House has used one of my songs on TikTok to incite violence and threaten war,” Kesha announced on Instagram.

“Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane.”

The singer added that she “absolutely” does not “approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind.”

In response to Kesha’s statement, White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung reposted her words on X, adding, “All these ‘singers’ keep falling for this. 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.”

Similarly, the White House deleted a video posted on X (though preserved the video on TikTok) promoting ICE arrests after Sabrina Carpenter criticised the use of her song as the soundtrack for the clip.

The Trump Administration shared a video highlighting recent ICE arrests in December while the pop star’s hit song “Juno” played.

The video showed various clips of immigration and customs enforcement officers detaining people as the lyrics “Have you ever tried this one?” repeated over and over again. The White House captioned the video, “Have you ever tried this one? Bye-bye.”

The White House deleted the video from its X account on Dec. 5, following Carpenter’s viral response. In her comment under the since-deleted post that garnered over a million likes, the “Manchild” singer called the video “evil and disgusting.”

“Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda,” Carpenter wrote.