Jess Glynne condemns White House's use of Jet2 Holiday sound for deportation post

On Tuesday, the White House commandeered a viral TikTok sound for a social media post gloating about deportations.

By Drew Gillis  |  July 31, 2025 | 1:54pm
Photo by Ki Price/Getty Images
Music News White House
Jess Glynne condemns White House's use of Jet2 Holiday sound for deportation post

For those who spend a lot of time scrolling vertical videos, the song of the summer is one that is actually a decade old. One of the most viral sounds of the year has been the “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday” clip, which features Zoë Lister delivering the advertisement over a clip of Jess Glynne’s 2015 track “Hold My Hand.” The sound is used ironically on clips of bad vacations, like with someone falling off a speedboat or someone crashing into a seagull while on a rollercoaster. It’s all been really fun, which means that it didn’t take long before the White House ruined it. 

On Tuesday, the official White House X account posted a video depicting handcuffed and shackled men boarding a plane as the sound played, with the caption: “When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation. … Nothing beats it!” It’s really stomach-turning stuff, which is unfortunately par for the course for this administration and its social media strategy. Many of the top replies on the post are critical of it, but if the intention behind the post was attention, mission accomplished. 

Among the people who noticed the post were Glynne and Lister, both of whose voices feature in the clip. While Glynne has, per The Guardian, joined in on the trend in other iterations, the singer sharply condemned its use here. The White House’s post was also shared on Instagram, where Glynne wrote, “This post honestly makes me sick. My music is about love, unity and spreading positivity – never about division or hate.” Likewise, Lister told the BBC that she would
“never condone my voiceover being used” to advance “Trump and his abhorrent policies.” Her statement continues, “The Jet2 meme has spread a lot of joy and humour around the world but the White House video shows that Trump has neither.” And just like that, the fun meme is over. 

 
Join the discussion...