Photo by Kasey Shamis | The Triangle
On Feb. 1, the 68th Grammy Awards took place at the crypto.com arena in Los Angeles.
The famous award show usually gets lots of attention for hosting the most famous musicians and honoring them with awards in plenty of categories. This year at the Grammys, a huge emphasis was put on politics.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement started raids in June 2025 in a few big cities in the U.S., which has sparked a lot of protests. People were deported to El Salvador instead of their home country, and parents were separated from their children, amongst other things that fueled public outrage.
Ever since ICE came to Minneapolis in December, there have been many cases of violent escalations, leading to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and the deportation of a five year old boy, who was later seen in Texas. These events have caused a massive outcry, leading to demonstrations all over Minnesota and the rest of the U.S.
Due to these recent events, many celebrities at the Grammys wore “ICE OUT” pins to stand in solidarity with the victims of ICE, the many cases of wrongful deportation, and unlawful acts committed by ICE agents.
There has already been a lot of negative press from Republican outlets about Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl halftime show. He has consistently spoken out against President Trump and ICE, going so far as to not tour in the U.S. mainland because he is scared that ICE might be waiting outside the venue to deport fans due to Bad Bunny having a largely Latinx fan base.
Some Republicans’ hatred towards Bad Bunny goes so far that Turning Point USA has made their own “alternative halftime show,” featuring headliner Kid Rock, amongst others, to attempt and detract from the Super Bowl halftime show.
So, it was no surprise that when Bad Bunny won the award for Album of the Year with “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” at the 2026 Grammys, he called out ICE in his speech and said: “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
He was not the only one who called out ICE. Other artists like Olivia Dean and Billie Eilish called out ICE when they went to accept their awards for Best New Artist and Song of the Year respectively. Olivia Dean said that she is the granddaughter of an immigrant and that “those people deserve to be celebrated,” and Billie Eilish said that no one is illegal on stolen land.
Apart from them, there were plenty of artists wearing pins on their clothing that said “ICE out,” including Justin and Hailey Bieber, Khelani, and Joni Mitchell.
Unfortunately, it seemed a bit performative for some celebrities. When Jack Antonoff was asked on the red carpet why he supports the cause, his response seemed incohesive and confusing. He said it is “terrible, you know,” and for “every reason you could probably imagine, I would think,” without going into any specifics about why he thinks ICE is bad.
Despite this, it was still a powerful sign for celebrities to stand behind the cause and encourage the protesters in Minneapolis and every other major city in the U.S.