The Pokémon Company responds after the White House posts video of ICE arrests to the anime’s theme song

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The Pokémon Company responds after the White House posts video of ICE arrests to the anime’s theme song

The Pokémon Company has responded after the White House posted a video showing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arresting people, set to the Pokémon anime’s theme song, on TikTok.

The video, captioned ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All’, was set to the song and was shared to the official White House TikTok account and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) X (Twitter) account earlier this week.

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In the video, footage of ICE officers arresting people is interspersed with images of Pokémon protagonist Ash Ketchum throwing a Poké Ball, and the video finishes with a series of custom Pokémon cards featuring photos of people arrested and their alleged crimes.

At the time of writing, the video has amassed almost 70million views on X and 8.2million on TikTok.

Many Pokémon fans online reacted with anger and protest, some urging The Pokémon Company to sue the US government. And the company has now responded.

In a statement given to Variety earlier today (September 24), The Pokémon Company International confirmed it was not involved in the video, saying: “We are aware of a recent video posted by the Department of Homeland Security that includes imagery and language associated with our brand. Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property.”

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The statement comes a day after comedian Theo Von posted one of his own on X. After the DHS used one of his audio clips in a new-deleted video about deportations, he wrote: “Yooo DHS I didn’t approve to be used in this. I know you know my address so send a check. And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos,” Von wrote on X. “When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!”

Last month, an ICE video featuring Jay-Z’s 2003 song ‘Public Service Announcement’ was hit with a copyright takedown, while San Francisco rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club issued a cease-and-desist notice to the DHS in July after a recruitment video included their music. They finished their statement on Instagram by writing, “Oh, and go f… yourselves.”

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Other artists have told Donald Trump to stop using their music, too. Last year, during his campaign for the US presidency, he lost a legal battle over using Eddy Grant’s ‘Electric Avenue’ without permission, while ABBA demanded he stop using their music at rallies, Jack White told his campaign not to “even think about using my music” after a clip of ‘Seven Nation Army’ was used, and Foo Fighters, Spinal Tap and Isaac Hayes’ estate all took action.

A number of other artists have spoken out against ICE and the DHS in recent months, too. Ethel Cain, Sophie Thatcher and Boy Harsher were among over 100 artists backing a campaign calling for the abolishment of ICE in June, the same month as Finneas said he was tear-gassed at a peaceful protest against the agency.

Tom Morello shared a “Fuck ICE” playlist in August, and Bad Bunny said earlier this month that he won’t include the US in his forthcoming world tour due to fears of ICE raiding his concerts.

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