No.Nonsense.

Sunday night saw yet another opportunity for the public at large to be lectured by a bunch of tone-deaf celebrities at The Grammys, pun intended. All night long, it was speech after speech telling the world at large how we should feel and act about ICE and the situation in Minneapolis.

At least during the anti-war era of Vietnam, the music was good.

I used to love awards shows and watched all of them. Not anymore. And I didn’t watch this one because I have better things to do with my time. I did check out a lot of the clips and several performances. The issue I have is not in these artists having an opinion. You do you, boo. The issue that I have is speechifying about what we should think or do without full knowledge of what you’re talking about. The issue that I have is preaching one ideal and living another. If I’m going to call out a religious leader for gross hypocrisy, I’m going to call you out too.

In her acceptance speech, Billie Eilish said “no one is illegal on stolen land”. The next day it was revealed that her million dollar mansion is built on sacred land once occupied by the Tongva Tribe. I will credit her for the large sums of money she contributes to charities that match her values. But don’t attempt the moral high ground when you aren’t sure of where you are stepping.

We have celebrities consistently arguing against guns as they walk around with armed security. They lecture us on protecting the environment as they travel in private jets and luxury SUVs. They argue for the poor then return to their gated mansions. They want open borders but “not in my neighborhood”.

The two most honest people I saw at The Grammys were Justin Bieber and Jelly Roll.

Podcaster and writer Maureen Callahan described Justin’s performance in nothing but his underwear as an expression of “you did this to me. You stripped me bare.” He was figuratively saying that he has nothing more to hide because they’ve exposed everything. This is a young man who started as a teenager, being exposed to a life that no one of that age has the maturity to handle. As a result, he has suffered mentally and emotionally for years. We’ve watched him walk on stage and give awesome performances only to walk off and descend into a mental hellscape. And his struggles have been plastered over every tabloid, entertainment channel, and social media site. He walked out on that stage Sunday night and said he had nothing more to give- he’s naked. And everyone clapped and cheered.

Jelly walked on stage with a Bible in his hand and preached about where God found him to where he is now. He was sincere in his words and his actions. In his interview backstage he then dropped an f-bomb. For him, he never claims to be perfect. He lives in his imperfection and says, “I’m a sinner who is love by God”. I grew up in an atmosphere where I saw people all the time who appeared pious in public only to go home and act like demons. I rebelled by saying I’m not hiding anymore.

And then when Jelly was asked to weigh-in on the situation in Minneapolis, he called himself a dumb redneck and said we didn’t want to know his opinion because he didn’t know enough about the situation to express his opinion. That is the most refreshing statement I have heard in a very long time.

My point in all of this is to say to these celebrities to just give me a good song, an engrossing movie, a funny television show, or an amazing play. Why do you feel you have to pull me to your side of the road? Just entertain me. I come to you for an escape from the stresses of everyday life. I don’t want to sit down for a night off and be lectured for three hours.

And if you have strong convictions, go right ahead and live those convictions. Just make sure your life parallels the words coming out of your mouth. I value authenticity over principle.