Grammys 2026: Billie Eilish says “no one is illegal on stolen land” during acceptance speech
At the Grammys, Billie Eilish used her speech to condemn ICE after winning ‘Song of the Year’.
Eilish beat strong competition from the likes of Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii and Kendrick Lamar to be awarded the coveted prize from songwriting legend Carole King.
Both Eilish and her brother/collaborator, Finneas, were wearing ‘ICE out’ pins on stage, as was King, and in her speech, the Grammy-winner made a rallying cry to everyone in the room, plus the millions watching at home.
“No one is illegal on stolen land,” she passionately said. Although she stated that being at the Grammys tonight made her hopeful, Eilish also admitted, “It’s really hard to know what to say and what to do right now.”
Eilish continued, “We need to keep speaking up and keep protesting. Our voices really do matter.”
Notably, Eilish’s speech was partially bleeped by CBS; however, they have been doing this throughout the evening when artists swear, such as with Lola Young.
Eilish has been vocal in her condemnation of ICE, recently posting on Instagram Stories following Alex Pretti’s death in Minneapolis, “Hey my fellow celebrities, you gonna speak up? Or.”
One person who did speak up tonight is Bad Bunny. To a standing ovation from the entire room, he said, “ICE out”, while accepting ‘Best Música Urbana Album’, before eloquently adding on behalf of the Latino population in the US, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we are Americans”.
Despite English not being his first language, he got past the language barrier to add, “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.”
He powerfully concluded, “We don’t hate them, we love our people, and we love our family. We love, don’t forget that please.”
Elsewhere, upon winning ‘Best New Artist’, Olivia Dean spoke about the power of immigration and showed solidarity with immigrant communities.
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