TPCi has previously had to distance itself from the Trump White House, when in September of last year the official Department of Homeland Security (DHS) X account posted a video with the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” tagline, interspersing clips of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests with clips from the Pokémon anime. TPCi released a similar statement in response to that video, making it clear they did not offer DHS their permission to use copyrighted materials.
When asked for comment by The New York Times, the Trump White House directed them to a Tweet from White House Deputy Communications Director, Kaelan Dorr, criticizing TPCi for its lack of response to Hilary Clinton’s “Pokémon GO to the polls” comment from 2016. Other commenters on X criticized TPCi for its support of the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBT+ communities, though these are incongruous to the direct political campaigning done on the White House X account.
Other celebrities and companies have distanced themselves from the White House and Donald Trump’s political usage of their assets, especially in reference to ICE recruitment videos. Just within the last year, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, and SZA have all released statements disagreeing with their music being used by the Trump administration, and MGMT had a DHS post featuring their song taken down through legal means. Just two months ago, Minecraft speedrunner Couriway announced a boycott of the game until a White House Tweet featuring Donald Trump as a Minecraft character was taken down.
It remains to be seen if TPCi will take any action other than releasing statements against the repeated political use of their brand. TPCi and Nintendo are otherwise notorious for being quite protective of their IP.
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