Grammy winners Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish and Olivia Dean hit out at ICE as they accept awards

Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar and British artist Olivia Dean were among the big winners at a politically charged Grammys ceremony, which saw several winners using speeches to hit out at the immigration operation in the US.

Anti-ICE messages were shared on stage by Billie Eilish, Dean and Bad Bunny while other stars including Justin and Hailey Bieber wore badges - all in opposition to the heightened presence of federal agents particularly in Minneapolis, which has become a flashpoint city.

Wiping away tears as she walked to the stage to accept the best new artist award, Dean told the audience: "I guess I want to say I'm up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant... I'm a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated."

The 26-year-old has had huge success over the past year following the release of her chart-topping smash hit, Man I Need, and now has one of the "big four" Grammys - which also include song, record and album of the year.

Her sentiment was echoed by Eilish, who accepted the award for song of the year, for Wildflower.

"No one is illegal on stolen land," Eilish said as she stood on stage alongside her brother and collaborator Finneas. The 24-year-old, whose winning track features on her album Hit Me Hard And Soft, urged people to keep protesting.

"It's just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now, and I just, 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."

Public backlash against the ICE operation, which is part of Donald Trump's mass deportation initiative, has grown since a Border Patrol officer shot and killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti - just weeks after Renee Good was shot dead in her car, less than a mile away.

Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny, whose DeBi TiRAR MaS FOtoS became the first Spanish language album to be named album of the year, started his speech for an earlier award with the words, "ICE out".

He continued: "We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans."

For the main prize, he delivered the majority of his speech in Spanish, before saying in English that he wanted to dedicate the award to "all the people that had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams".

Kendrick Lamar among artists making Grammys history

The night saw Lamar become the most awarded hip-hop artist in Grammys history, with five prizes in total including the final of the "big four" - record of the year, for luther, his song with SZA.

Stars including Bieber, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Tyler, The Creator and Sabrina Carpenter gave performances during the show, along with a medley from Dean and her fellow best new artist nominees.

Lady Gaga was among the night's winners, taking home the statuettes for best pop vocal album for Mayhem, as well as best dance pop recording and best remixed recording for Abracadabra and its Gesaffelstein remix.

The star was emotional as the pop vocal win was announced, and used her speech to support fellow female artists and other women in the industry.

"I just want to say for women in music, that I know sometimes when you're in the studio with a bunch of guys, it can be hard, so I urge you to always listen to yourself, and always fight for your ideas, fight for your songs, fight for yourself as a producer, she said. "Make sure that you are heard loudly, and thank you so much for supporting me."

Another British win - and a Cher mix-up

Carpenter, Bieber, Sir Elton John, Bruno Mars and last year's best new artist, Chappell Roan, were among the nominated stars who missed out on prizes tihis year.

With more than 90 awards to hand out and only a few hours for the broadcast, history was made even before the televised show had started - as Golden, from Netflix mega hit KPop Demon Hunters, became the first ever K-Pop song to win a Grammy.

And in taking home the best pop solo performance for her hit song Messy, Lola Young ensured there was another big British win. This one was televised - and Young lived up to the spirit of the song as she told the crowd she "obviously" had not prepared a speech, and apologised for swearing.

Other British winners included FKA Twigs, who collected the best dance/ electronic album prize for her record Eusexua, and Cynthia Erivo, who won best pop duet/ group performance for Defying Gravity, her duet with Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.

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All the winners in the main categories

Elsewhere, Cher received a standing ovation as she picked up a lifetime achievement award - and provided a moment of levity with a mix-up as she presented the record of the year award, which went to Lamar and SZA's luther - not, in fact, to the late Luther Vandross, as she first appeared to say.

In fairness, the song does sample the late soul star's 1982 version of If This World Were Mine, with Cheryl Lynn, and Lamar and SZA arrived on stage laughing and joking with Cher.

"This is what music is about," he said. "Luther Vandross."

During an emotional In Memoriam section, artists including Post Malone and Slash performed War Pigs in tribute to heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne, who died last year. Lauryn Hill followed with her own tribute to D'Angelo and Roberta Flack, joined by musicians including Jon Batiste and her Fugees bandmate, Wyclef Jean.

Earlier in the evening, British star Yungblud won the award for best rock performance for his cover of Black Sabbath's Changes, which he performed at the band's farewell gig, Back To The Beginning, just a few weeks before Osbourne's death.

And director Steven Spielberg became the newest member of the select EGOT group - creatives who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony - after scooping best music film for Music By John Williams.

"Thank you to all the Grammy voters, whose recognition of Music By John Williams means the world to me," he said in a statement after the win.

(c) Sky News 2026: Grammy winners Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish and Olivia Dean hit out at ICE as they accept awards