Musicians Speak Out in Defiance of ICE while Honoring the Many Voices that Make Us Great

At the Grammy Awards, artists like Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish denounced ICE and celebrated the people being targeted by the Trump administration

At the Golden Globes just a few weeks ago, the celebrity silence on all things political was deafening. But at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, musicians like Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish showed their peers in the film and TV biz how it’s done.

Multiple winners used their acceptance speeches to strike a politically defiant note, sounding off against ICE and the authoritarian policies of the current administration. Trevor Noah took multiple shots at the president, including a joke about Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a hissy fit on Truth Social.

The tone of the evening was not merely anti-Trump, though.

To the extent that the chaotic, three-hour-plus broadcast had an identifiable theme, it was a celebration of the immigrant experience; of the cultural contributions and admirable perseverance of people who “had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” as Bad Bunny put it.

The Puerto Rican superstar, who is headlining the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, made history by winning album of the year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos, the first Spanish-language album to clinch the prize.

Fittingly enough, he delivered an acceptance speech mostly in his native tongue.

“Puerto Rico, believe me when I say that we are so much bigger than 100 by 35,” he said (a reference to the island’s dimensions). “There is nothing that exists that we can’t accomplish. Thank God, thank you to the academy, thank you to all the people who have believed in me throughout my whole career. To all the people who worked on this album. Thank you, Mami, for giving birth to me in Puerto Rico. I love you.”

The thirty-one-year-old set the tenor for the night early in the broadcast, when he won the Grammy for best música urbana album.

“Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say: ICE out,” he said, to uproarious applause and a standing ovation from many in the audience at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Once the clamor died down, he continued: “We’re not savages. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans. Also, I want to say to the people…The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people, we love our family, and that’s the way to do it — with love. Don’t forget that, please.”

At one point Noah, the South African comedian who rose to fame as the host of The Daily Show, asked Bad Bunny if he can come live with him in Puerto Rico if things keep getting worse in the U.S.

“Trevor, I have some news for you. Puerto Rico is part of America,” he replied, using air quotes when he said “part.” Last year, in lieu of putting on a concert tour in the continental United States due to fear it would have been a target for ICE raids, Bad Bunny staged a residency in San Juan that generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the local economy.

Billie Eilish, who won the Grammy for song of the year for “Wildflower,” also used her time on stage to denounce ICE. “No one is illegal on stolen land,” said the twenty-four-year-old, who accepted the prize from songwriting legend Carole King, who wore an ICE OUT pin.

Eilish acknowledged that “It’s really hard to know what to say and what to do right now,” but took a stand anyway.

“I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting and our voices really do matter, and the people matter,” she said. “And fuck ICE is all I want to say.” (CBS bleeped the speech but the gloriously uncensored version is available on YouTube.)

The political energy in Sunday’s telecast was particularly striking given that the awards were being broadcast on CBS, a network that has taken a hard right turn since parent company Paramount was acquired by the MAGA-friendly Skydance last year.

Last month’s Golden Globes, which also aired on CBS, featured a few cutting jokes about the turmoil at the network and the Epstein files, but there was nary a mention of Trump, ICE, or Renee Good, who had been killed just a few days before the awards show. Host Nikki Glaser later told Howard Stern she cut a gag about ICE because she worried about trivializing something that isn’t funny.

“It’s hard to strike the right tone,” she said.

It’s a valid concern, and one that was seemingly shared by Noah, who started out cautiously with a monologue that mostly steered clear of politics. But perhaps emboldened by the mood in the room, Noah grew bolder as the night wore on.

At one point, the comedian explained that he was hosting the awards for the sixth and likely final time. “I believe in term limits. I want to set an example for anyone watching the show,” he said, an obvious jab at Trump. “Leave when your time is up.”

After Eilish won song of the year, Noah quipped, “That is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland. Which makes sense. I mean, because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new island to hang out with Bill Clinton.” Later on Truth Social, Trump threatened to sue Noah for the Epstein bit. (Tellingly, he did not respond to Noah about leaving office when his term was over.)

While it is undoubtedly tricky for artists trying to say something meaningful in the middle of a glitzy, self-congratulatory awards show, the artists at the Grammys Sunday managed to find the right balance. They fought Trump and his henchmen by doing just what Bad Bunny urged them to do: showing love for the people most vilified by the MAGA movement.

One of the most moving moments of the evening came courtesy of Olivia Dean, the twenty-six-year-old British soul singer who was named best new artist.

“I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant.” she said in her acceptance speech. (Dean’s grandmother emigrated to the UK from Guyana as part of the Windrush generation.) “I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated. We’re nothing without each other.”

Equally moving was Shaboozey, who won the Grammy for best country duo/group performance for “Amen,” a collaboration with Jelly Roll. The genre-spanning singer and rapper dedicated the award to the immigrants who “built this country.”

“This is also for those who came to this nation in search of better opportunity, to be part of a nation that promised freedom for all and equal opportunity to everyone willing to work for it,” said the artist, who is the son of Nigerian immigrants. “Thank you for bringing your culture, your music, your stories, and your traditions here. You give America color.”

The big winner at the Grammys this year, it seems? Immigrants and their creations.

Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian