Billie Eilish and Jennifer Lopez ‘blacklisted by Trump administration for ad campaign’

None of the celebrities agreed to participate and the campaign has been put on hold

Billie Eilish, Jennifer Lopez, and more celebrities were reportedly blacklisted from an ad campaign by the Trump administration.

According to The Washington Post, Eilish and Lopez are among multiple celebrities mentioned in documents pertaining to a  $250m advertising contract.

The contract, which Politico reported on in August, was meant to “defeat despair and inspire hope” amid the coronavirus pandemic, weeks ahead of the 2020 presidential election, the platform wrote.

According to the Post, Trump political appointees and contractors vetted celebrities who could potentially be approached for the project, based on “whether they had ever criticised the president, or supported former president Barack Obama, gay rights or same-sex marriage” – reportedly approving just 10 out of 274 potential picks.

None of the celebrities agreed to participate — they may not have known they were being vetted — and the campaign has been put on hold.

Eilish was among those who did not receive approval due to her political views, the newspaper wrote. Lopez was reportedly excluded from consideration due to her criticism of Trump’s anti-immigration policies during the Super Bowl in February.

Also excluded from consideration were Judd Apatow, because he “believes Trump does not have the intellectual capacity to run as President” (a stance reflected in an interview Apatow gave in June to The Independent), and Jennifer Lopez, for her criticism of Trump’s anti-immigration policies.

Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Justin Timberlake, Johnny Depp, and Jack Black were also reportedly among the celebrities deemed unfit for the campaign.

The names were among the spreadsheets, memos, notes and other documents from September and October released by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Additional reporting by AP