Grammy winners riff on ICE, immigration and Minneapolis

Minnesota was in the house at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, even though there were no nominees from the Land of 10,000 bands.

Immigration issues and the ICE occupation in the Twin Cities were on the minds of many on Music’s Biggest Night, as the Recording Academy calls it, from the biggest names such as Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish to classical music-makers and Grammy’s best new artist.

Artists at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles didn’t hesitate to make their thoughts known, from wearing ICE OUT buttons like Justin Bieber to speaking on the winners’ podium.

In the second award presented during the 3½-hour telecast, the best new artist honoree, British singer Olivia Dean, quickly thanked her manager and then delivered a timely message.

“I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant [who emigrated to the United Kingdom from Guyana],” said Dean, who drew a huge cheer. “I’m a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.”

More vociferous applause greeted Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny’s opening line in his speech in English for his all-Spanish project, honored for best música urbana album.

“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” said Bad Bunny, who refused to perform concerts in the continental United States in 2025 for fear ICE agents might focus on his concerts. Instead, he did a series of shows in Puerto Rico, reportedly having a $400 million economic impact on the U.S. territory.

“We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens,” he said. “We’re humans and we’re Americans.”

He talked about how powerful hate is but the “only thing more powerful is love. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our family. Thank you God and thank you to my family.”

Later when an overly emotional Bad Bunny picked up the most prestigious honor, album of the year, for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” he spoke extensively in Spanish except for one sentence in English: “I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homelands and follow their dreams.”

When Eilish, sporting an ICE OUT button, became the first woman to capture song of the year for a third time, for “Wildflower,” she couldn’t hold back.

“As grateful as I feel, I don’t feel like I need to say anything, but no one is illegal on stolen land,” she stated to a huge reaction. “It’s hard to know what to say and what to do right now. I feel hopeful in this room, and we need to keep fighting and protesting. Our voices do matter and the people matter.”

In the pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony, Grammy winner for songwriter of the year Amy Allen — who penned hits for Sabrina Carpenter as well as the duo of Rosé and Bruno Mars — was the first person to take the podium wearing an ICE OUT button on her spaghetti-strap gown. Maybe it was fitting that she was presented the award by Minneapolis-launched producer/songwriter Jimmy Jam.

Several musicians spoke out about immigration issues during the 3½-hour pre-telecast, when most of the 86 Grammys were presented.

When accepting her first of two Grammys in R&B categoies, singer Kehlani, who wore an ICE OUT button on her gown with its cutout stomach, said, “Together we’re stronger in numbers to speak out against all the injustice going on.” She also received huge cheers after uttering an expletive about ICE.

During the pre-telecast, short speeches were given by winning artists in various genres, including country, Latin and even classical.

Winner of best engineer/classical Mike Tierney ended his brief acceptance speech with, “Last but not least, abolish ICE.”

Several artists pointed out that the United States is a country of immigrants.

“Immigrants built this country, literally,” said country star Shaboozey, the son of Nigerian immigrants and winner for best country dup/group performance with Jelly Roll, “so this is for all children of immigrants. This is also for all those who came to this country in search of that opportunity to be part of a nation that promised freedom for all and equal opportunity for everyone willing to work for it.”

Contemporary Christian singer Israel Houghton reminded the music industry: “We are citizens of a kingdom that cannot be shaken and will not end. I encourage you to be nice to the people in your community. Amen.”

Some Latin musicians used their time on the winners’ podium to speak up.

Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba simply said: “I’d like to ask for love, support and respect to every Latin and foreign people that come to this country.”

“The guy from Minneapolis is getting pummeled with inquiries like I’ve never had before,” he said before the Grammys. “Minnesota is looking righteous in this [music] community.”

The ceremonies did acknowledge one Minnesota musician — Jellybean Johnson, of the Time and the Family, was mentioned visually in an in-memoriam segment, recognizing dozens of musicians who died in the past year.

Another nod to Minnesota at the Grammys came from Justin Vernon of Grammy-nominated band Bon Iver, an Eau Claire, Wis., resident and Lynx superfan who spends lots of time in Twin Cities. He showed up on the red carpet wearing an ICE OUT button on one lapel and a red whistle on the other.

He told Variety magazine that the whistle is “to honor the observers in Minneapolis … who protect their community. I think it’s really great to celebrate music and talk about the power of music, but I think the real work is in the streets of Minneapolis and I’m here to honor them as well.”