White House Sparks Backlash After Editing Drake’s ‘Iceman’ Cover With a ‘MAGA’ Pendant

The White House jumped into Drake’s latest album rollout and immediately found itself on the defensive. On Friday, May 15, the Trump administration shared its own altered version of the Iceman cover on X, the same day Drake released the LP alongside two other surprise projects, Maid of Honour and Habibti.

The original artwork shows a hand wearing a crystal glove reminiscent of Michael Jackson. In the White House’s version, that hand grips a chain necklace fitted with a “MAGA” pendant instead. The caption beneath it was short: “ICED OUT.”

The post landed in a familiar political-media sweet spot for the Trump White House, which has repeatedly treated pop culture like a ready-made attention machine. That habit has already drawn criticism before, including after the administration used songs by Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter to bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s widely protested immigration enforcement campaigns. This time, the target was Drake, and the reaction was just as swift.

Fans filled the comments with backlash. “Gas is 12 trillion dollars a gallon and y’all on here playing around!” one person wrote. Another added, “I’m in the worst timeline, man.” Others responded by remaking the White House image into political commentary of their own, including one version that swapped the pendant text from “MAGA” to “Epstein,” a pointed reference to the mention of Trump’s name in the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump has denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, who died by suicide before his trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Billboard has reached out to Drake’s representative for comment, and also contacted the White House about the criticism.

President Donald Trump speaks in front of the American flag to the press as he departs the White House on May 12, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“Gas is 12 trillion dollars a gallon and y’all on here playing around!” one person commented.

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