Update: The Washington Post‘s original story incorrectly attributed a Billie Eilish quote to Trump’s campaign. Eilish was the one who originally said Trump was “destroying our country and everything we care about.” The headline of this article has been modified to correct this error.
Trump apparently holds some bizarre disdain for Billie Eilish. According to documents released Thursday, Democratic lawmakers are accusing the Trump administration of using millions of taxpayer dollars for a partisan celebrity ad campaign, which also purposefully excluded Eilish from being involved.
The Washington Post reports the administration was approved to use $250 million to launch an ad campaign designed to “defeat despair and inspire hope” amid the pandemic. Democratic lawmakers were on board, until they found out Trump was barring the involvement of celebrities who had been publicly against his policies, or have ever supported either gay marriage or Barack Obama.
Trump apparently hired contractors to vet certain celebrities for the campaign and had 274 on the list for consideration. But according to the report, when Eilish’s name came up, those working on the campaign immediately shot down the idea. Apparently, one member of the team said they are against Eilish because she’s “not a Trump supporter” and is “destroying our country and everything we care about.”
The report doesn’t clarify what exactly the administration thinks Eilish is destroying, but it did specify other celebrities who didn’t make the cut. Jennifer Lopez was turned down due to her critique of Trump’s immigration policies during her Super Bowl halftime show and George Lopez was nixed from the project due to “previous concerns regarding his comments regarding the President.”
Ten celebrities were reportedly approved for the ad campaign and the list is quite eclectic. Among those chosen were Dennis Quaid, television doctor Dr. Oz, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miranda Lambert, Garth Brooks, Dwyane Wade. and Enrique Iglesias.
