HEADER IMAGE Kehlani photographed by Jamie-Lee B & Gabe Phoenix via Instagram
Awards season has started in full swing, with each day bringing new nominee announcements and historic record breaks across Hollywood and the music industry. Last night, stars gathered for the 68th Grammy Awards, celebrating the best musical moments from the past year.
While much of the evening was predictably taken up by jaw-dropping red carpet fashion moments and unexpected award wins, the cultural focus of the night shifted decisively away from spectacle and towards the political emergency unfolding across the United States.
Militarised immigration enforcement operations have expanded sharply across the United States under the Trump administration’s latest immigration policies. On 7th January, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent murdered civilian Renee Good in Minneapolis, sparking protests and renewed debate over federal use of force and racial profiling during operations, with many describing the acts as state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing. Good’s death set off demonstrations in the Twin Cities on January 8 and 9, with crowds gathering outside federal buildings and blocking streets in protest of the killing and broader ICE activity. Since then, a wider wave of anti-ICE protests has spread to cities across the country, increasing after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on 24th January by federal agents during an enforcement operation. These events have contributed to a sustained national mobilisation demanding accountability and policy change in federal immigration enforcement.
On the Grammys red carpet, numerous stars wore pins reading ‘ICE OUT’ and ‘BE GOOD’, honouring Good. Those wearing the pins included Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kehlani, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, Margo Price and Rhiannon Giddens.
But the most confrontational moments took place on the awards’ main stage itself, with many winners using their airtime not to thank industry executives, but to speak directly to the political crisis facing their country. Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, who took home both Artist of the Year and Album of the Year, spoke to those protesting: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love. We need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them, we love our people and our family.” Later on, while accepting his 3rd award for Best Música Urbana Album, he declared “ICE OUT” in an impassioned speech: “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
For all children of immigrants, this is also for those who came to this country in search of better opportunities to be part of a nation that promises freedom for all but equal opportunity to everyone willing to work for it. Thank you for bringing your culture, your music, your stories, and your traditions here. You give America colour.
Shaboozey
Best New Artist winner Olivia Dean thanked her grandmother, saying, “I am up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant. I’m a product of bravery, and I think that those people deserve to be celebrated. We’re nothing without each other.” Country star Shaboozey echoed this in his acceptance speech for Best Duo Performance while thanking his mother, who immigrated from Nigeria: “Immigrants built this country, so this is for them, for all children of immigrants. This is for them. For all children of immigrants, this is also for those who came to this country in search of better opportunities to be part of a nation that promises freedom for all but equal opportunity to everyone willing to work for it. Thank you for bringing your culture, your music, your stories, and your traditions here. You give America colour.”
Song of the Year winner Billie Eilish also used her speech to address the paralysis many feel amid the current political crisis. “As grateful as I feel, I honestly don’t feel like I need to say anything but that no one is illegal on stolen land,” she started. “It’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting. Our voices really do matter, and the people matter.”
Accepting her award for Record of the Year with Kendrick Lamar, SZA spoke of collective resistance: “I know that right now is a scary time. I know that the algorithms tell us it’s so scary and all is lost. There have been world wars and plagues, and we’ve gone on. We can go on. We need each other. We need to trust each other and trust ourselves, trust your heart. We’re not governed by the government; we’re governed by God.”
Meanwhile, Kehlani spoke candidly to her peers as she accepted her award for Best R&B Performance. “What I want to make sure that I say is that everybody is so powerful in this room, and together we’re stronger in numbers to speak against all the injustice going on in the world right now. Instead of letting it be just a couple of you here and there, I hope everybody is inspired to join together as a community of artists and speak out against what’s going on, and I’m going to leave you with this and say: Fuck ICE.”
What I want to make sure that I say is that everybody is so powerful in this room, and together we’re stronger in numbers to speak against all the injustice going on in the world right now. Instead of letting it be just a couple of you here and there, I hope everybody is inspired to join together as a community of artists and speak out against what’s going on.
Kehlani
At this year’s Grammys, the message was clear: silence is a choice, and celebrity neutrality in moments of mass violence is itself a political act. The artists who spoke understood that choosing not to use their platform is a luxury afforded only to those whose lives are not on the line.
This is not without precedent. Awards stages have long functioned as pressure points for cultural change. When the Dixie Chicks spoke out against George W. Bush in 2003, they were effectively exiled from country radio, a reminder of how threatening dissent can be. When Macklemore used his 2014 Grammy win to champion marriage equality, it coincided with a rapid shift in mainstream public opinion. When Kendrick Lamar turned his 2016 performance into a protest against police brutality, it reframed what “political music” could look like in the mainstream. These moments don’t always produce immediate policy change, but they do have a genuine impact on the cultural conversation.
That same energy carried into the 81st Golden Globe Awards earlier this year, where several actors used the red carpet (often more freely than the stage itself) to condemn Trump’s deportation programme. Mark Ruffalo, in particular, spoke openly about the cruelty and dehumanisation at the heart of the policy, describing it as an abuse of state power that should concern anyone who believes in democracy or basic human dignity.
With the Oscars, BAFTAs and BRIT Awards still to come, the question is no longer whether celebrities should use these platforms, but whether they’re willing to accept the risks that come with doing so. If last night’s Grammys are any indication, a growing number of artists understand that relevance isn’t measured in chart positions alone, but in whether you speak out when it actually counts.
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