The 68th annual Grammy Awards turned political as artists and celebrities used the stage to speak out about ICE and immigration issues during music’s biggest night. Many celebrities took the chance to advocate and encourage others to speak out about the injustice that is happening.
Apart from winning three Grammy Awards and making history for being the first Spanish-language artist to take home the Album of the Year award for his latest album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” Bad Bunny continued to make his mark at the Grammys with a speech that went far beyond music.
Following his win for Best Música Urbana Album, Bad Bunny proceeded to give a heartfelt speech about ICE.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say ICE out. We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we’re humans and we are Americans.”
Later on, he continued to deliver another powerful speech after his big win for Album of the Year.
“I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland to follow their dreams, to all the people who have lost a loved one and, even so, have had to move forward with a lot of strength,” Bad Bunny said.
During the red carpet, many celebrities such as Billie Eilish, Finneas, Samara Joy, Helen J. Shen, Kehlani, Brandi Carlile, Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber wore white pins with “ICE OUT” in black bold letters written on it.
They were later joined by other artists like Amy Allen, Kamal Wilson, Joni Mitchell, Alan Pierson, Lady Gaga and Carol King.
This pin served as a symbol of protest to call for the ending of abuse by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and show solidarity with immigrant communities affected by ICE’s actions.
Kehlani was the first artist to speak about ICE in her speech following her win for Best R&B Performance for her song “Folded.” After thanking her team and everyone who’s helped her make this possible, she finished her speech by encouraging every artist to join her in using their voice to speak about what is happening in the world.
“What I wanna make sure that I say is that everybody is so powerful in this room and in this room later, and together we’re stronger in numbers to speak against all the injustice going on in the world right now,” Kehlani said, “So instead of letting it be just a couple of few here and there I hope everybody’s inspired to join together as a community of artists and speak out against what’s going on. I’mma leave this and say f*** ICE.”
The Song of the Year award was given to Billie Eilish for her song “Wildflower.” As grateful and honored as she was to receive this award, Billie shifted the focus of her speech to a different message.
“I honestly don’t feel like I need to say anything, but no one is illegal on stolen land,” Eilish said, “I feel really hopeful in this room and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting and our voices really do matter and the people matter and F*** ICE is all I want to say.”
Another artist who used the stage to speak out about the immigration and deportation issues happening was Shaboozey, who became emotional after he won the Best Country Duo/Group Performance award.
He thanked his mother who was an immigrant and worked multiple jobs to provide for him and his four siblings.
“Immigrants built this country, literally, actually. So this is for them, all children of immigrants. This is also for those who came to this country in search of better opportunities,” Shaboozey said, “Thank you for bringing your culture, your music, your stories and your traditions here. You give America color.”
After Olivia Dean thanked her team for the 10 years of hard work into her music career, she honored her immigrant grandparents after winning Best New Artist. “I guess I want to say I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant. I wouldn’t be here. I’m a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.”
