(feature image by Rich Polk / Contributor via Getty Images)

I largely checked out of the Golden Globes last month when Hannah Einbinder didn’t win the award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television. An Einbinder win was, I figured, the only real shot at the words “fuck ICE” being said on the Globes stage.

It was, as most awards ceremonies tend to be, a largely politically apathetic affair. Some stars wore pins. Mark Ruffalo, so often on the right side of history, spoke out against the murder of Renee Good while on the red carpet prior to the ceremony. But when it came to the actual broadcast, there were no real acknowledgements of the terror ICE was inflicting in Minneapolis, around the country, and right in the city most of these stars call home. It’s a stark reminder of just how much these awards shows are about glamorizing and glorifying the business of television and film and not about art at all. Art should not be politically apathetic, and nor should artists, despite what Sydney Sweeney apparently believes.

I don’t find it politically useful to spend significant time or energy on calling out celebrities when they don’t speak up, it often feels like an easy distraction from meaningful action. But I still think it’s valuable for celebrities to raise awareness and  there are real historical precedences of celebrity activism actually moving the needle on progressive issues, as with The Hollywood Women’s Political Committee, founded in the 1980s by Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand, which was very involved in the fight to preserve abortion rights at the time. Hollywood groups also organized against fascism in the 1930s and 1940s.

These were very organized efforts that go far beyond a few words in an acceptance speech, but words in an acceptance speech can indeed be a starting place for more meaningful advocacy and action from people with massive platforms. During the HIV/AIDS crisis, celebrities used platforms like award shows to advocate for an issue largely misrepresented by the media and misunderstood by audiences at home. Algorithm-driven social media and censorship mean many viewers don’t actually know the truth of what’s happening in with ICE right now, but on a live broadcast, their favorite artist could inspire them to find out.

After watching the Grammys last night, the silence of the Golden Globes became so much louder. Because on the biggest awards night for the music industry, several artists did use their platform to actually condemn ICE. All of them were people of color or queer or both. Artists of marginalized identities are so often the ones willing to say something and take a stance, even though they’re also more likely to face career consequences than their comparatively more privileged straight and white counterparts.

Queer artists Billie Eilish and Kehlani both used their time at the mic to speak out against ICE. Kehlani, who often speaks out against the genocide of Palestinians through their actual art and on social media, ended their acceptance of the award for Best R&B Performance by saying “fuck ICE.” “No one is illegal on stolen land,” Billie pointedly said in her speech accepting the award for Song of the Year.

Shaboozey, Olivia Dean, and SZA also spoke out against ICE and/or in support of immigrants. But it was Bad Bunny in his acceptance speeches for Album of the Year and Best Música Urbana Album with the most impassioned words of the evening. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” he said, followed by a monologue about not giving in to hate.

“I want to dedicate this award to all the people that had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” Bad Bunny said in another acceptance speech, switching between Spanish and English. “To all the people who have lost a loved one and, even so, have had to move forward, and continue with great strength, this award is for you,” he continued. “To all the Latinos in the entire world and to all the artists who came before and who deserved to be on this stage receiving this award, thank you very much.”

Again, I’m not really in the business of giving celebrities too much credit when it comes to making political statement, but given Hollywood’s relative silence about ICE, these musicians taking a stand at the Grammys does feel significant, especially when it comes to the headliner for the upcoming Super Bowl, another widely televised event. The more celebrities who do speak out, the more blatant others’ silence will become. “Abolish ICE” shouldn’t be a controversial statement, and the more people say it, the more normalized of a position it will become.

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As I wrote in my piece about Einbinder’s Emmys speech last year, awards shows are more about reinforcing the status quo than about actual progress and artistic achievement, but that’s what makes these small moments of artists challenging the status quo stand out. Everyone right now should be leveraging whatever power or courage they have to fight for a better world. I don’t want these people to speak out because they’re celebrities but rather just because they’re human. Every opportunity to demand for an end to ICE should be taken right now.