There was one overriding message at last night’s Grammys: fuck ICE. This may not be surprising, as opposition to the immigration agency explodes following two high-profile murders and six deaths in ICE custody this year alone, but it does tell us something about the fight for cultural power in the US – a fight which, despite their alternating bravado and whiny petulance, the Republicans are far from winning.

Celebrities have been making political statements at award ceremonies for well over half a century, and the figure of the self-righteous star lecturing the masses from a podium has long been a conservative punchline – something which makes the likes of Ricky Gervais giggle even when the statement in question concerns the mass slaughter of children. While the political acceptance speech is now a baked-in feature of these ceremonies, it hasn’t always gone down well. Michael Moore was practically booed off-stage when he denounced the Iraq War at the 2003 Oscars (one of the only audience members to look even vaguely approving, amid a sea of horrified or rigidly impassive faces, was Martin Scorsese, who smiled with a “sure, why not?” expression and began to clap as the camera panned away). For making speeches with expressed support for Palestine, Hannah Einbinder and Jonathan Glazer, at the Emmys and Oscars respectively, met with a warmer, if still cautious reception in the room, but then a weeks-long campaign of personal smears and hostile open letters.

Last night’s Grammys were different. While accepting the Album of the Year award for Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Bad Bunny condemned ICE: “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out. We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens – we’re humans.” These words were met with a standing ovation in the room and, while they provoked the conservative criticism you’d expect, no music industry professional with any credibility is going to sign an open letter demanding that Bad Bunny respect federal law enforcement. Far from this being a standalone moment, he was joined in his stance by countless other musicians. Both Billie Eilish, while accepting the award for Song of the Year, and Kehlani, for Best R&B Performance, ended their speeches by declaring “fuck ICE”. British artist Olivia Dean, crowned Best New Artist, described herself as “the granddaughter of immigrants” and said that immigrants “need to be celebrated”. 

‘ICE Out’ pin badges were worn by Lady Gaga, Joni Mitchell, Justin and Hailey Bieber, and Jack Antonoff,  among others. Perhaps most telling of all, no one took the opposing view. Jelly Roll – a popular country artist who many conservatives hold up as an avatar of their new cultural dominance, even though he describes himself as “not political” – declined to answer when asked for his take on ICE. He’s got some backlash for this, but I think that’s a positive sign. This is the Republicans’ guy, whether he sees himself that way or not, and even he is unwilling to defend the agency in public.

Bad Bunny’s speech, as well as being an admirable intervention, is now in line with mass public opinion in the US, where support for ICE has fallen off a cliff since the murders of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Peretti. A month ago, “abolish ICE” would have been viewed in the mainstream as a radical position, the kind of thing you might see on a sticker in Portland. According to a YouGov poll, more Americans support than oppose abolishing ICE (46 per cent vs 41 per cent). A separate poll by the ACLU found that 58 per cent think the agency should stop mass raids targeting migrants and that 84 per cent support the right to “safely observe, record, and document ICE activities”. Immigration, once one of his stronger issues, is now a millstone around Trump’s neck.

The positive response to the “ICE Out” messaging at the Grammys, both in the room and without, may be partly explained by the fact that immigration is a more neatly bipartisan issue than the Iraq War in 2003, which was supported by most Democrat politicians and a sizable share of their voters, and Palestine in recent years (despite seismic shifts in opinion among the party base, the Democratic establishment remains firmly in the tank for Israel). But the American public’s new hostility towards ICE transcends party alignment, at least to some extent. There is a hardcore contingent of Trump supporters who delight in seeing people they perceive as their political enemies gunned down in the streets – and they make up a considerable portion of the population. But many independent voters, the kind who voted for Trump primarily because they were concerned about the cost-of-living crisis, are horrified by the events of recent weeks. It is no longer controversial or even particularly divisive to say “fuck ICE”.

But this is a reality which the Republicans and their supporters are refusing to accept, insisting instead that the artists who spoke out against ICE at the Grammys are out-of-touch and elitist, part of a liberal conspiracy to hoodwink people into objecting to the federal government summarily executing whoever it likes. These people have got high off their own supply. After Trump’s 2024 victory, there was a lot of talk – across the political spectrum – of how conservatism had entered a new era of mainstream popularity and cultural dominance. Given that Trump won only narrowly, against a uniquely weak candidate and during a cost-of-living election, this narrative was always overcooked, but now it looks ridiculous. The culture war is stuck in the same stalemate it has been for years: the right have held onto YouTube, podcasts and, increasingly, social media (the Trump’s administration attempts to dominate traditional news, such as through Larry Elisson’s takeover of CBS, have so far failed to pay off); with a few exceptions, liberals still dominate music, television and film.

This isn’t really anything to gloat about. Years of advocacy from actors and musicians, in favour of the Democrats, abortion rights, Black Lives Matter or MeToo, did nothing to impede the US’s ongoing descent into violent authoritarianism. But if events like the Grammys have any value, it’s as a way of crystallising and amplifying mass sentiment. Pin badges and speeches aren’t enough to defeat ICE, but when Latine communities are being demonised, abducted and attacked, it’s not nothing that a Puerto-Rican artist condemned the people responsible in such direct and potent terms, while winning an award for a Spanish-language record. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS won not just because it’s a great album, but because it’s a popular one, which is also why Bad Bunny is performing at the Super Bowl – it’s the result of “wokeness” or “DEI”, but because he makes art that people resonate with, and less people would tune in if the half-time slot was taken up instead by Kid Rock or Nicki Minaj. The Republicans now control almost all of the levers of power in the US, and the terrible effects of that are on full display. But cultural dominance – something they clearly care about a lot – remains out of reach.