The 2026 Grammy Awards turned into a full-blown political statement, and right-wing commentators are absolutely fuming. Billie Eilish, Kehlani, Bad Bunny, and even Justin and Hailey Bieber showed up wearing “ICE OUT” pins, directly challenging the Trump administration’s brutal immigration enforcement tactics. When acceptance speeches turned into “fuck ICE” rallies, conservative social media erupted with the usual complaints about Hollywood elites and celebrities who should “stick to music.”
But here’s where it gets interesting. Experts are calling out the elephant in the room that MAGA world desperately wants to ignore.
The Celebrity President Who Hates Celebrity Politics
Deepak Sarma, a distinguished scholar in public humanities at Case Western Reserve University, didn’t mince words about the absurdity. “It is more than ironic that MAGA discourse routinely condemns ‘Hollywood elites’ while remaining deeply invested in celebrity as a mode of political authority,” he pointed out. The movement’s entire foundation rests on a reality TV star whose claim to political legitimacy came from playing a successful businessman on “The Apprentice.”
Think about it. Trump’s whole political identity was manufactured through television. His “business acumen” was a carefully staged fantasy that millions bought into. Before him, there was Reagan, the Hollywood actor who turned screen charisma into presidential power. Arnold Schwarzenegger flexed his way from action movies to the California governor’s mansion. Sarah Palin transformed politics into a media performance art.
The trajectory is clear. Conservative politics has been celebrity-driven for decades.
Nicki Minaj Gets a White House Invite While Grammy Stars Get Dragged
And speaking of celebrities, MAGA has been absolutely giddy about Nicki Minaj’s recent alignment with Trump. She’s appeared in official White House videos. Trump invited her to speak at a government summit about children’s investment accounts. Suddenly, celebrity political opinions are totally fine when they validate the administration’s agenda.
Alvin B. Tillery Jr., a professor of political science and African American studies at Northwestern University, nailed it: “Conservatives routinely rail against ‘Hollywood elites’ and celebrity political interventions, except when a celebrity can be framed as validating Trump. At that point, the critique disappears.”
Sarma went further, calling the Minaj embrace “revealing, but not in ways that flatter either party.” The welcome isn’t principled or stable. It’s purely instrumental. She’s useful as long as she serves the narrative. The moment she stops being convenient, that tolerance evaporates.
Why the Outrage Is Actually a Deflection Tactic
Tabitha Bonilla, an associate professor of political science at Northwestern, pointed out something crucial that gets lost in all the performative anger. MAGA’s criticism isn’t really engaging with why celebrities spoke out against ICE in the first place. By screaming about “political stunts” and “elitist lectures,” they’re drawing attention away from the actual issue: ICE’s violent enforcement actions that have killed people.
Last month in Minneapolis, ICE officers killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother. Federal agents also fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse. These aren’t abstract policy disagreements. People are dying.
When celebrities use their platforms to say “this is wrong,” and the response is to attack them for speaking rather than address what they’re speaking about, that’s a tactic. Discredit the messenger so you don’t have to deal with the message.
Bonilla explained that this pattern of outrage serves a specific purpose. “When the very basis of democratic accountability is under question, I think that it makes perfect sense that celebrities and public figures engage these types of concerns.” Silence, she argued, normalizes democratic erosion and makes it harder to fight back.
The Spell Might Be Weakening
Sarma suggested that MAGA’s volcanic reaction to the Grammys reveals something deeper than simple disagreement. It’s a defensive response rooted in discomfort, especially as more people within conservative circles quietly question whether this administration’s moral center can hold. The murders by ICE agents have made that questioning more urgent.
“The angry reaction is a defensive one, not as a response to what was said, but to the unsettling possibility that the spell might be weakening,” Sarma said.
Shaun Harper, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California, took a different angle with a bit of dry humor. “Given its lack of demographic diversity, perhaps MAGA might find more support at the Country Music Awards. But not at the Grammy Awards.” The entertainment industry that celebrates hip-hop, R&B, Latin music, and pop isn’t exactly fertile ground for an agenda built on violent family separations and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Kehlani’s speech captured the moment perfectly when she told the audience they’re “stronger in numbers to speak against all the injustice going on in the world right now.” Billie Eilish followed with a line that cut through all the noise: “No one is illegal on stolen land.” Bad Bunny, fresh off triggering MAGA with his Super Bowl halftime announcement, declared, “We are not savage. We are not animals. We are not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
These aren’t just celebrity hot takes. They’re public figures using visibility to say what millions feel but can’t amplify. Sarma called it a civic obligation: “When those with the loudest voices decline to speak, they do not remain neutral. Instead, they tacitly enable the conditions under which democratic institutions weaken.”
The real question isn’t whether celebrities should speak out about politics, it’s why one side only celebrates that speech when it reinforces their worldview while condemning it everywhere else.
