White House uses viral Jet2holidays meme to promote ICE deportations
The clip showing people wearing handcuffs being ushered out of cars and onto planes by officials, is paired with the uplifting beat of Jess Glynne's "Hold My Hand" and the equally cheery voiceover of actor Zoe Lister, advertising Jet2's packages.
"When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation. Nothing beats it!," a message on the official White House X and Instagram accounts read.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is a federal law enforcement agency which has been ramping up immigration raids under the Trump administration.
Federal agents have expanded these raids to everyday locations, including hospitals, creating fear among communities, with the crackdown prompting violent protests in Los Angeles last month.
Lister has expressed her disappointment at her voice being used to promote ICE's work, writing on her Instagram story: "What can be done about @whitehouse using @jet2pics sound and my voiceover to promote their nasty agenda?"
ITV News has contacted Jet2, Jess Glynne and Zoë Lister for comment.
While the White House has not appeared to comment on this specific clip, it has recently responded to wider criticisms of its social media strategy, which includes the use of AI generated images, trolling and memes.
"Nowhere in the Constitution does it say we can't post banger memes," it wrote on its X account earlier this month.
The controversy follows a sudden rise in the use on social media of the voiceover and music used in Jet2's advert.
The ad's audio has been paired with clips on social media platforms, including Instagram and TikTok, and has even been sampled by DJs in clubs.
The ad featuring Jess Glynne's Hold My Hand, has often been used for footage of calamitous situations on holidays gone wrong.
For example, it's been used for a video on TikTok viewed over 1.8 million times showing a woman almost drowning in a pool and having to be saved by lifeguards, and for clips of people fighting and being arrested on planes.
The advert is often used ironically to contrast Jet2's idyllic depiction of its holidays with chaotic or disappointing.
Zoe Lister, who performed the voiceover live at a DJ set by Capital Breakfast's Chris Stark, opened up to the Radio Show about how "completely nuts" it has been to go viral.
"The last few months have just been ramping up, and the videos are getting funnier. I thought it just was just like, 'it's got British appeal, you know, we've got a good sense of humour', but then there's Americans, like 'hey I love your voiceover'."
In a video on her Instagram profile, Lister, who played the role of Zoe Carpenter in Hollyoaks from 2006 to 2010, said she has also been getting messages from fans in Brazil, Canada, Algeria, and the Philippines. Someone has even made a Chinese version of the voiceover.
The 43-year-old voice actor told the Sun: "I'd never in a million years think that that this was going to be the thing to go viral.
"We're all just really enjoying it because it's just silly, it's stupid joy, and that's what we all need."
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