Bad Bunny accepts the award for album of the year for “Deb\u00ed Tirar M\u00e1s Fotos” during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello) [AP Photo]<\/span><\/p>\n The Grammy Awards on Sunday, the annual event in which members of the Recording Academy recognize music and recording artists across multiple genres, became a platform for several award recipients to condemn Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and defend the rights of immigrants.<\/p>\n During the evening, several recipients used their brief time on stage to condemn the immigration dragnet carried out by federal agents in cities and towns across the country. Artists explicitly demanded \u201cICE Out,\u201d thus identifying themselves with the mass protests and walkouts that are taking place against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Media coverage of the ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles acknowledged that immigrant rights and opposition to repression\u2014not celebrity gossip\u2014was a central axis of the awards program. Unlike previous award shows, where causes have sometimes been mentioned, the 2026 Grammys saw several important denunciations of the ICE crackdown.<\/p>\n By doing so, the artists who made statements were expressing the widespread public anger over the hundreds of arrests, raids and \u201cdisappearances\u201d associated with the attempt by the White House to scapegoat immigrants for the deepening social, economic and political crisis of American society.<\/p>\n Awardees used their acceptance speeches to denounce ICE and express support for all immigrants, sometimes prompting CBS to censor them. Billie Eilish, accepting the Song of the Year Award, declared, \u201cNo one is illegal on stolen land,\u201d before concluding with \u201cF\u2022ck ICE,\u201d a phrase CBS bleeped from the broadcast.<\/p>\n She also said, \u201cWe just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting. Our voices really do matter, and the people matter.\u201d<\/p>\n In the days before the show, Eilish had already described ICE on social media as a \u201cfederally funded and supported terrorist organization under the Department of Homeland Security,\u201d in response to the killing of Good, and later condemned the shooting of Pretti, asking fellow celebrities whether they would continue to remain silent.<\/p>\n Eilish has shared on social media a tribute to 32 people who died in ICE detention during 2025, noting that 2025 was one of ICE\u2019s deadliest years and underscoring that these deaths were the result of policy, not accidents.<\/p>\n In Atlanta, at an event marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in January, Eilish said, \u201cWe are witnessing our neighbors being taken away \/ abducted, peaceful demonstrators being attacked, facing violence and death, our civil liberties being eroded, funding for combating the climate crisis being redirected to fossil fuels\u2026and access to food and healthcare becoming a privilege for the affluent rather than a fundamental human right.\u201d<\/p>\n Bad Bunny, who won three Grammy awards and is slated to headline the Super Bowl halftime show on February 8, started his acceptance of the Album of the Year honor for \u201cDeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS,\u201d with the comment \u201cIce Out!\u201d followed by, \u201cWe\u2019re not savage, we\u2019re not animals, we\u2019re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.\u201d Bad Bunny\u2019s comments received a lengthy ovation.<\/p>\n British singer Olivia Dean, receiving Best New Artist, explained that she was \u201cup here as the granddaughter of an immigrant\u201d and insisted, \u201cMy existence is a testament to bravery, and those individuals deserve recognition. We are interconnected.\u201d These remarks, which were clearly aimed against the anti-immigrant hysteria being promoted by the Trump administration, also received a warm response from the audience.<\/p>\n R&B artist Kehlani, honored before the broadcast for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song, returned to the microphone a second time to insist that the industry had a responsibility to stand with the persecuted. \u201cTogether, we are stronger in numbers, and we must voice our opposition to the injustices occurring worldwide,\u201d she said, closing with a clear \u201cF*ck ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n On the red carpet and throughout the hall, Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kehlani, Joni Mitchell and many others wore \u201cICE Out\u201d pins, while Bon Iver\u2019s Justin Vernon attached an orange whistle to his lapel in solidarity with Minneapolis observers who blow whistles to warn residents of ICE and CBP incursions.<\/p>\n The reaction in the hall showed that the anti\u2011ICE sentiments were widely held. The visible sympathy among musicians and attendees contrasted sharply with the nervous posture of CBS, which is owned by David Ellison of Skydance Media, a close friend and wealthy political ally of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n Grammy host Trevor Noah delivered a sardonic barb at music artist Nicki Minaj who has emerged as a Trump supporter. Noah joked that Minaj was absent from the event because she was at the White House \u201cdiscussing important issues\u201d before going into a Trump imitation to mock the president\u2019s vanity and thin\u2011skinned authoritarianism regarding who has \u201cthe biggest ass.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, while introducing Billie Eilish\u2019s win for Song of the Year, Noah joked that the award was \u201ca Grammy that every artist desires\u2014almost as much as Trump wants Greenland.\u201d He added that with Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s island gone, Trump needed \u201ca new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.\u201d<\/p>\n This comment drew a 1:00 am response from Trump on his Truth Social platform, denouncing Noah as a \u201cpathetic, talentless dope\u201d and threatening to unleash his lawyers on the M.C. \u201cNoah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!\u201d Trump wrote, insisting he had \u201cnever been to Epstein Island\u201d and vowing to sue Noah \u201cfor plenty of money\u201d to, \u201chave some fun\u201d and \u201cteach him a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n This explicit threat to haul a comedian into court for a joke is part of a systematic attempt by the administration to criminalize criticism and intimidate opponents through the machinery of the capitalist state.<\/p>\n