It feels a bit strangle, settling in to enjoy an award show while ICE agents are targeting and violently detaining immigrants and protestors in Minnesota and across the US. But the 2026 Grammys on Sunday, February 1 were anything but devoid of political awareness; attendees and performers including Kehlani, Justin and Hailey Bieber, and Billie Eilish wore “ICE OUT” pins on the red carpet and throughout the show, with Bad Bunny further amplifying that message when he took the Crypto.com Arena stage to accept an award.
“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out. We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans,” the Puerto Rican musical phenom said as he accepted the Grammy for best música urbana album for his album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. “Also, I will say to people, I know it’s tough to know not to hate these days, and I was thinking sometimes, we get contaminados [contaminated]—I don’t know how to say that in English. The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different if we fight we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people. We love our family, and that’s the way to do it. With love. Don’t forget that please. Thank you.”
Bad Bunny has always been outspoken about his political beliefs, criticizing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2020 in a T-shirt honoring the life of Alexa Negrón Luciano, an unhoused trans woman who was killed in Puerto Rico that year. It’s not entirely surprising, then, that he used his platform at the 2026 Grammys to take a strong stand against ICE violence and repression—now, we can only wonder how he’ll bring that perspective to the Super Bowl halftime show next week.
