Ricky Gervais Reminds Celebrities Not to Make Political Speeches After Grammys Sees Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish Slam ICE: ‘They’re Still Not Listening’
Ricky Gervais appeared to laugh at this year’s crop of Grammy winners for their politically-charged speeches, taking to X after the 2026 ceremony to share an excerpt from his 2020 Golden Globes monologue in which he told the actors in the room not to turn their acceptance speeches into political calls to action. Gervias used a crying emoji after the Grammys and wrote: “They’re still not listening.”
“If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a political platform to make a political speech,” Gervais advised in 2020. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”
Gervais posted and then took down the same exact message last September after the 2025 Emmys. At that ceremony, “Hacks” star Hannah Einbender notably won for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series and used her acceptance speech to say “fuck ICE” and “free Palestine.”
The 2026 Grammys were largely defined by politically-charged speeches. Billie Eilish, Justin and Hailey Bieber, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Jack Antonoff and more musicians wore “ICE Out” pins to the ceremony. Eilish won song of the year for “Wildflower” and said “fuck ICE” during her speech, adding: “No one is illegal on stolen land. And, yeah, it’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now, and I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter.”
Bad Bunny, who won album of the year and best música urbana album during the live Grammys telecast, said “ICE out!” during his speech and added: “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans…. 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.”
Even some winners who did not necessarily call out ICE directly still championed immigrants during their politically-minded acceptance speeches. Olivia Dean won best new artist and said: “I want to say I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant. I wouldn’t be here… I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated. We are nothing without each other.”
Shaboozey won his first Grammy award by taking home the prize for best country duo/group performance (“Amen” with Jelly Roll) and said in his speech: “Immigrants built this country, literally. So this is for them, for all children of immigrants. This is also for those who came to this country in search of a better opportunity to be part of a nation that promised freedom for all and equal opportunity to everyone willing to work for it. Thank you for bringing your culture, your music, your stories and your traditions here. You give America color. I love y’all so much.”
