UPDATED 10/30, 10:15 p.m. ET: An erroneous report from The Washington Post held that the Trump administration described Billie Eilish as someone who is "destroying our country and everything we care about." The quote was pulled from a document compiled by the administration listing several celebrities who were being considered for inclusion in a public health campaign.
Correctively, the publication has stated that the report inaccurately attributed the quote to the administration. But it was, in fact, an earlier quote from Eilish, who shared the sentiments in a Bustle interview from August. The Washington Post has since corrected the quote's attribution.
See original story below.
A leading Trump administration official reportedly tainted a $250 million advertising contract originally intended to "defeat despair and inspire hope" amid the pandemic by, among other sadly unsurprising things, excluding public figures they believed were not aligned with Trump or his widely panned policy attempts.
A peculiar amount of ire, per the Washington Post, was reserved for Grammy winner Billie Eilish. A document detailing the administration's problems with an assortment of "at least" 274 artists and celebrities who were being considered for the public health campaign pointed out that Eilish is, in fact, "not a Trump supporter." Furthermore, in the words of the document, the Trump team is convinced the 18-year-old megastar is "destroying our country and everything we care about."
Top-ranking Democrats recently penned a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar stating that documents from the campaign showed HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo trying to use the taxpayer-funded effort as a way of helping the president and failed steak salesman's image.
Other figures who were under consideration but ultimately not approved for similar reasons include Jennifer Lopez, Judd Apatow, George Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Justin Timberlake, Jack Black, and Johnny Depp.
It's worth noting that it appears the pricey public health ad, though said to have intentionally been intended to encourage optimism during the ongoing pandemic, quickly became more of an attempt to track down virtually apolitical celebrities and/or those who would somehow manage to make Trump look good.
Ultimately, only 10 celerities—including Dr. Oz and Dennis Quaid—got the approval from the administration to be involved with the program. However, the program itself is currently under review, with none of the PSA videos having aired publicly.
Anyway, next February will bring fans the Apple TV+ premiere of Eilish's new documentary The World's a Little Blurry. Fans who attended Eilish's recent Where Do We Go? livestream event were treated with a new clip from the 2021 release.
