One of the most discordant and yet banal things about looking to the US today is how celebrity, its greatest cultural output, largely carries on as normal amid scenes of profound distress. Award ceremonies are televised, bespoke couture is pulled for the red carpet, some new film fills your social media timeline. It feels galling that a country can encompass such a sense of anguish at the same time as such glamour and wonder. And given that we are condemned to witness ICE’s transformation into a lethal, paramilitary force, such an event as the 68th Grammy awards, broadcast last night, feels at once insignificant and more important than ever as all the world watches.
The Grammys saw perhaps the most uninhibited and genuinely furious rebuke of ICE and Donald Trump that we have seen so far from celebrity figures – particularly considering that just last month, the Golden Globes was viewed as having largely ignored politics, save for a few “ICE Out” pins worn by stars including Ariana Grande and Mark Ruffalo. Grammy attendees went further. Billie Eilish followed up her call for celebrities to speak up against ICE, saying that “no one is illegal on stolen land … I feel that we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, our voices do matter and the people matter.” Perhaps most movingly, considering his stated concern around the mass deportation of Latino people, album of the year winner Bad Bunny said: “ICE out. We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we are humans and we are Americans … the only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.” These came alongside celebrations of immigration from Olivia Dean and Shaboozey.
