On Sunday night, a group of artists — some in various states of undress — came together to pat themselves on the back for making and selling a lot of music.
What transpired was a televised resistance revival in a cathedral built on empty platitudes and slogans. And the hymns were woefully auto-tuned.
The general public knows it as the Grammys.
Any good performances or moments were overshadowed by mass moral preening from the movers and shakers of the music industry, which is not exactly associated with deeply principled players.
On the red carpet, Justin Bieber and wife Hailey wore “ICE Out” pins. Inside, R&B singer Kehlani — whose Central Park concert was canceled by the city last summer over her embrace of intifada — temporarily abandoned her usual anti-Israel act to boldly declare, “F–k ICE.”
Bon Iver, aka singer Justin Vernon, adorned his lapel with a red whistle “to honor the observers in Minneapolis.”
But as the daughter of a football official, the whistle pin felt more like stolen valor to me.
And as the granddaughter of legal immigrants, I found it curious that British singer Olivia Dean felt the need to slip into her Best New Artist speech that she was the “granddaughter of an immigrant.” Does that give her special insight into America’s immigration policies?
Nah, it just worked to score virtue points from the clapping seals in the room and advance the left’s willful misrepresentation of our laws.
ICE critics regularly conflate legal and illegal immigration. In fact, they carefully avoid making the very important distinction between the two.
It’s a sleight of hand that allows these out-of-touch but self-righteous celebs to simply say, “We love immigrants” and pretend it’s a political position that belongs to the Dems alone.
Perhaps the richest statement of the night came from that merchant of melancholy, Billie Eilish, who used her acceptance of Song of the Year to proclaim that “no one is illegal on stolen land.” She then added a gratuitous “f–k ICE.”
The 24-year-old, like many others at the Crypto.com Arena, quite literally lives a life within self-imposed borders. They have palatial homes, outfitted with gates and security to protect them from the unwashed masses. They fly private and, when they go out to eat, they are ushered to private spaces.
And yet, they are essentially saying: Borders for me, but not for thee.
Given Eilish’s stance, her homes should become havens for illegal immigrants — especially ones with horrible criminal records. Hey, no one is illegal, right? So surely she wouldn’t mind if some active members of Tren de Aragua rested their weary tattooed heads in her guest rooms.
Maybe Bad Bunny can share custody with Eilish. While accepting the Grammy for Album of the Year, the Puerto Rican singer, who will be headlining the Super Bowl halftime show Sunday, began with the profound “ICE out.“
“We are not savage, we are not animals, we are not aliens, we are humans and we are Americans,” he said. “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.”
Love and kindness are good organizing principles for grammar-school recess, but it means absolutely nothing in the real world when it comes to governing efficiently and maintaining law and order.
“Be Kind” was literally the empty motto that allowed the Biden administration to open the border and allow over 10 million unvetted people — including criminals, gang members and terrorists — into our country. This performative compassion was what led to a slew of murders, rapes and child trafficking.
It is quite the opposite of being kind and humane.
Those are useless sentiments that belong on signs in an Airbnb kitchen.
We have laws in our country. If you are legal, you get to stay. If you are not, you don’t get to stay.
Up until five minutes ago, this wasn’t a difficult concept. It was, largely, a consensus across the political spectrum.
Most people can see through the Grammys’ tiresome sanctimony. But the pop stars are too busy enjoying the applause from their friends to notice.
