Semisonic Reacts to Trump Ad Using ‘Closing Time’: ‘Not Authorized’

On Monday morning, the White House shared 17 seconds of propaganda in which Border Patrol agents appear to arrest an undocumented immigrant. The video is soundtracked by Semisonic‘s “Closing Time,” the 1998 song written by future pop hitmaker Dan Wilson. On X, the official White House account shared Wilson’s lyrics “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”

In a statement provided to Rolling Stone, Semisonic reacted to seeing their song about a tipsy last call repurposed as nativist propaganda. “We did not authorize or condone the White House’s use of our song in any way,” the band said. “And no, they didn’t ask. The song is about joy and possibilities and hope, and they have missed the point entirely.”

The White House’s video depicts a young, tattooed, brown-skinned man being led onto a plane in handcuffs. The video comes just days after the Trump administration deported hundreds of immigrants accused of being tied to gangs to El Salvador, even as a federal judge ordered that the deportations be halted. The video is just one small part of the larger blitz of deportation propaganda the administration has been churning out since the start of Trump’s administration.

Over the past year, Foo Fighters, Isaac Hayes, Rufus Wainwright, Jack White and Celine Dion have all objected to Trump’s use of their songs in assorted rallies and political settings. This also isn’t the first time one of Wilson’s songs has been appropriated by either Trump or his supporters: Last year, MAGA accounts on TikTok used the Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which he wrote, in their clips against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris .

Wilson began his career as a member of the Minneapolis band Trip Shakespeare in the late 1980s. He and bandmate John Munson later co-founded Semisonic with drummer Jacob Slichter; the group recorded three critically-praised alt-rock albums before parting in 2001. After that, Wilson went on to a highly successful career as a songwriter for A-list acts including Adele and Taylor Swift.

“Closing Time” was Semisonic’s biggest hit, topping Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart and airing regularly on MTV. The song was inspired by both a defunct Minneapolis bar as well as the birth of Wilson’s daughter. “The song still gets played on the actual radio,” Wilson recently said of the song. “It’s insane. And people talk about it like it’s one of those things that everybody knows. ‘Closing Time’ is the song that never fell off the radar. I have no idea how that happened, but that’s what happened.”