A White House official recently made political interventions in a $250m ad-campaign that was made to “defeat despair and inspire hope” as the US records its worst week for new coronavirus infections since the pandemic began – celebrities seen as critical of US President Donald Trump and his policies were excluded, according to Democratic House lawmakers.

Documents acquired by the Washington Post reveal that Billie Eilish was among those removed from the campaign, because she’s “not a Trump supporter” and is “destroying our country and everything we care about”. 

Others who were banned from the initiative include Jennier Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Adam Levine, and Christina Aguilera (is this the 2008 election?) as they were also deemed to either be critical of Trump, or to have publicly shown support for former US president Barack Obama.

The document said that Aguilera “is an Obama-supporting Democrat and a gay rights supporting liberal”, and noted that Johnny Depp, also barred from the campaign, “appears to be aligned with the liberal left”. Of at least 247 celebrities considered, only 10 were approved, including actor Dennis Quaid, Billie Ray Cyrus, and Enrique Iglesias (LOL?).

The leak comes just a few days away from the November 3 Presidential election, for which Joe Biden leads in the polls. Read our piece on how conservative teens are waging war this election on TikTok and YouTube here.