“You are not shitholes”: at the Grammys, musicians offer words of support to immigrants

Logic, Camila Cabello, and Bono all made powerful statements about immigration and diversity.

With the final performance on the Grammys stage Sunday night, Logic had a few things to say about diversity and immigration.

As his performance of “1-800-273-8255,” his Grammy-nominated song on suicide prevention, featuring singers Alessia Cara and Khalid, came to a close, the rapper spoke about a variety of topics including suicide prevention, #MeToo, and Hollywood’s Time’s Up initiative.

“Stand tall and crush all predators under the weight of your heart that is full of the love that they will never take away from you,” he said to the audience.

But the most noteworthy statement came when Logic, speaking about the value of diversity, said, “You are not a shithole,” directly addressing countries that were the reported subjects of President Donald Trump’s controversial remarks about Haiti, El Salvador, and some African countries earlier this month. The comment was censored during the live broadcast.

Standing ovation all the way in the cheap seats to Logic’s reference to “you are not a shithole” during his anti suicide song performance. That song was rehearsed on Friday but not with shithole line. #grammys

— Cynthia Littleton (@Variety_Cynthia) January 29, 2018

"You are not a shithole," is what he tried to say, per @Variety_Cynthia https://t.co/BHAP48SaQq

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 29, 2018

“Bring us your tired, your poor, and any immigrant who seeks refuge,” Logic added. “Together, we can build not just a better country but a world that is destined to be united.”

His comments were met with a standing ovation according to Variety’s Cynthia Littleton.

Speaking to reporters after the performance, the rapper said that his comments were a direct rebuttal to the president’s alleged remarks. “I’m not a politician but if that man can call those beautiful places shitholes, I can stand up and say that they are not shitholes and that they are amazing,” Logic said according to BuzzFeed.

Logic’s performance was not the first of the evening to mention immigration. When introducing U2, singer Camila Cabello also spoke of immigration and the hundreds of thousands of young people brought to the US without documentation as children, known as DREAMers.

“Today, in this room full of music’s dreamers, we remember that this country was built by dreamers, for dreamers, chasing the American dream,” the Cuban-American Cabello said. “I’m here on this stage tonight because, just like the DREAMers, my parents brought me to this country with nothing in their pockets but hope. They showed me what it means to work twice as hard and never give up. And honestly, no part of my journey is any different from theirs.”

U2, who performed on a barge across the water from the Statue of Liberty, also made a statement about immigrants as their performance of “Get Out of Your Own Way” came to a close, with frontman Bono shouting, “Blessed are the shithole countries, for they gave us the American dream.” Pitchfork notes that the line is a variation of a similar line said by Kendrick Lamar in the studio version of the song, featuring Lamar. Once again, the statement was censored in the live TV broadcast.

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