now if it were up to them you would need an id to get into the grammys but not to get into america i have celebrity fatigue welcome back to the riley gaines show i'm riley gaines thank you for tuning in on this fine wednesday now i'll be honest with you i did not watch the grammys i could not find it within myself to do such i saw the clips that were circulating online and And even still, it was too much. We have a lot to unpack today. But before we do, I want to tell you about today's sponsor. If you've watched the show before, then you've heard me talk about my friends at Y Refi. And for good reason. What they're doing for people who are buried in private student loan debt is incredible. If your monthly payment feels impossible, if you're barely scraping by, or maybe you've gone into default, you are not alone. Y Refi, though, was built for situations exactly like yours. they specialize in refinancing private student loans that other companies won't even touch. So instead of a one size fits all payment plan, they work with you to personally create a custom monthly plan based on what you can actually afford. Lower monthly payments, low fixed interest rate, and a real path forward. And the best part is they do not care about your credit score. So if private student loan debt is stressing you out, if it's holding you back from your goals, You don't have to live like that anymore. Go to why refi.com. Why are E F Y.com? Be sure to tell them that Riley sent you. Like I said, I didn't watch the Grammys in full, just the acceptance speeches and performances that I saw online. I haven't watched the Grammys in a really long time because the Grammys haven't been entertainment in a very long time. These award shows, they have seemingly turned into celebrities doing political stunts and issuing political statements uh speaking personally i consume enough politics throughout the week that when i turn on an award show it's just not what i want to see or what i want to hear and i think i speak for a lot of americans when i say that uh over the past few years i think back to 2020 i think that's when i personally started to notice a lot of this right we saw celebrities showing up advocating for lgbtq rights or blm or the environment or wearing the dress that says eat the rich. And I just don't really understand it from a business perspective. Why? Like, why must they make themselves political when in nature, that's not why they have the platform that they have. And hear me when I say, I'm not trying to dissuade them from having political opinions. I actually think it's a good thing when people are involved and they care about what's happening and going on around the world, regardless of who they are. But that's not why they have the platform that they have. It's not why they have the audience that they've built up. And I mentioned this advice that I'm giving, it comes from a business perspective. Just ask Bud Light, right? They have this commercial with Dylan Mulvaney, like dressed up as Audrey Hepburn, it seems in a bathtub drinking beer, which never made sense to me, by the way, I don't know why or who they were trying to appeal to. It didn't seem to me as if they're trying to appeal to your standard beer drinker. But nonetheless, in doing that, they've essentially alienated more than half of their target market. And they're still trying to walk it back. There's this new Budweiser commercial. It's got this like beautiful Clydesdale and it starts as this little pony. And there's a little chick that falls from the nest. And you can't tell what the chick is, like what kind of bird it's going to grow up into. And they evolve and they grow together. And then the final scene is this big, beautiful Clydesdale running into the wind and these eagle wings spread. And it's an eagle. And I guess it's meant to make you feel very patriotic and prideful for your country, right? Like you see where I'm going here, Budweiser, Bud Light, they now realize that Woke is dead, but these celebrities have not. And they've adopted the same business model, alienating essentially half of their base. And in general, these award shows, whether it's the Grammys or the Golden Globes or the Oscars or any of these rooms filled with Hollywood elitists attempting to make themselves relatable, I guess. They're just not. What I see when I watch some of these clips is rich people telling poorer people to hate the rich. They try to make it as if they understand the issues that common folk, like your working class American faces, but they just don't. They're sitting around virtue signaling in this big, like political rally, this big competition over who can hate America the most, who can hate capitalism the most. It's a super exclusive group of what I would call self-absorbed narcissists who got filthy rich from the evil capitalism from the country that doesn't provide women or black people or gay people with any opportunities. These award shows, they've turned into like this master class in celebrity hypocrisy, starting with the ice pins that must have just like been on their seat when they walked in. It was almost as if they were handed their propaganda, handed their talking points and sent away to the red carpet. it. We've got a picture on screen here of Justin Bieber and his wife, Haley Bieber, who are wearing their ice pins. The pin actually says ice out. And my question here is what do they possibly think they're accomplishing by wearing this pin? Like who do they think that they're helping here? And if you're watching the clip on screen, the B-roll that's playing, I feel like I can get a sense of whose idea it was to wear these pins based on the body language and the facial expressions of this couple. Speculation, and I am totally guessing, but it appears to me as if this was Hailey Bieber's idea. But what is this from Hailey Bieber? There is a tweet for everything. This is a tweet from 2012. So granted, that's, I mean, nearly 15 years ago at this point. But this tweet from Haley, it says, shut up before I smack you back into your own country. I don't know the context of this tweet. And again, 15 years, it's a long time. I understand that people can change in that amount of time. But I show that to just highlight the point that most of these celebrities, they're just doing this because they feel like they have to. It's very performative. Not all celebrities, but I certainly believe that some. Before we move on to talk about the next insufferably woke celebrity, it's important to mention that Hailey Bieber and Justin Bieber live in a $25.8 million mansion in Beverly Hills. When you know it, it's behind gates. It's got security. Cameras are everywhere. If your eyes aren't rolling yet, they probably will by the next video. Let's watch it. No one is illegal on stolen land. And, yeah, 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. And I say sorry. So that was Billie Eilish These people just simply must not use their brains because if they did they would know that what they saying definitionally and logically make zero sense because how can you have stolen land if no one is illegal on the land right Like are you picking up what I putting down I think they just hoping that you're too stupid or too lazy to question what they're saying, to think about it deeply. But the reality is you don't have to think deeply about it at all to understand that it just doesn't even make sense, right? Nobody is illegal on stolen land is so rich because it simultaneously rejects every American's right to live here. And it affirms everyone else's. These slogans that they say, like they sound super deep until you notice that Billie Eilish, she's not packing it up. She's not leaving. She calls it stolen land while building a career, a mansion, a brand on the same land. And it's always the people who live in these gated communities. They have the most unique perspectives about the law. And by the way, nearly every single piece of land on this entire planet was stolen or conquered or traded or absorbed by someone at some point. Yet again, the slogan, it only seems to surface when people want to take a swing at the United States of America. And for all of our flaws that we have as a nation, we still maintain one of the most structured and generous legal immigration systems of anywhere, anywhere you could go in the entire planet, which I am very grateful for because it allowed my husband to come into this country via legal immigration. He did it the right way. And I will tell you that my husband as an immigrant, an alien, I call him an alien all the time, my husband as an immigrant, a legal immigrant who did it again, the right way. He has so much respect and appreciation for ICE for kicking the people out, deporting the people who don't do it the right way, because it has ultimately an effect on legal immigration and that process as well. So if we want to have an honest conversation, which we should, right? If that's really the goal here, maybe we should start with some consistency instead of these slogans or mantras that are dressed up as like moral insight from people who likely have little to zero understanding of these issues at all. I think the best part about Billie Eilish and her comments and what has surfaced in the days following is that we have now learned that her mansion in LA is actually settled on native and ancestral land. How perfect is that? Again, peak hypocrisy. We have now found out that Billie Eilish is living in a mansion built on ancestral land taken from the Tongva tribe, which they have now issued a statement. The Tongva tribe has said, as the first people of the greater Los Angeles basin, we do understand that her home is situated in our ancestral land. Eilish has not contacted our tribe directly regarding her property. They continued on to say, we do value the instance when public figures provide visibility to the true history of this country. Let me tell you what they're saying here. They're saying, thanks for bringing this to our attention, Billy. Now give us back our land. So Billy has an opportunity here. She has an opportunity to put her money where her mouth is, to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. But I would be willing to bet my house, my house that is probably also on stolen land. I would bet my house that Billie Eilish isn't willing to give up her home in Los Angeles, but that's fine. Let's say she doesn't want to do that. Let's say she doesn't want to contact the Kongva tribe and give back her mansion, her $14 million mansion. Cool. The least she could do based on her comments, based on her remarks, her performance at the Grammys, based on where she says her heart's at, is to open her home. Why don't you do that, Billy? Why don't you open your home to the illegal immigrants that President Trump has campaigned on deporting, that he won the popular vote by campaigning on to deport? Open your front door, leave your door unlocked, open the gate, turn off your security cameras, let them come live with you. Take them off the street where they are terrorizing everyday Americans. You know, the people that you're trying to act as if you understand by making these remarks, let the illegal immigrants come live in your home. I'm sure in your $14 million mansion, you have many, many guest rooms. And just really quick, like a very quick history lesson here while we're at it. Who does she think the Tongva tribe took the land from? Where does she think they got the land? Because they moved into Southern California thousands of years after it had already been occupied by a more ancient tribe than them. Okay. The Tongva tribe, they killed and they displaced the inhabitants and took it over. And if they get to claim the title of indigenous, then guess what? So do we. I'm really of the mind that you're either functionally, mentally challenged, brainwashed, or both if you feel it necessary to honor indigenous land and the way that we've seen done at these award shows and the way that we saw done at the DNC. earlier last year. But Billy, let's say you don't want to give your mansion back. You don't want to contact the Tongva tribe or open up your home. Maybe a good way to reconcile what you're saying here is to make your concerts free to the public. That includes food, drink, parking, merch. Just make it all free, right? Because, I mean, like these pesky borders keeping us in our country safely, you have security measures and barriers at your concerts. Just stop doing that. You don't need that. You don't need screening or metal detectors or names on a list or security checkpoints. Just let everyone in. Let it be a free for all. Don't charge anything for it. And that's the thing. Could you imagine what would happen to me if I tried to enter into the Grammys illegally? Like, do you think I would just be, you know, waved in, sat at a table and given a glass of champagne? No, I would be forcibly and rightfully so ejected by probably a big burly security guard. Okay. I could show you 20 more artists who also felt the need to deliver these liberal political statements, but that's not everyone who was there. Jelly Roll, by far, in my opinion, gave the best acceptance speech after winning best contemporary country album. Listen, I know they're going to try to kick me off here. So just let me try to get this out. First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I'm listening. Lord, I am listening. Lord. Second of all, I want to thank my beautiful wife. I would have never changed my life without you. I'd ended up dead or in jail. I'd have killed myself if it wasn't for you and Jesus. I thank you for that. I thank you for my label. Broken Bow Country Radio, baby. What's up, dog? oh Republic John Manili we did it baby there was a time in my life y'all that I was I was broken that's why I wrote this album I didn't think I had a chance y'all there was days that I thought the darkest things I was a horrible human there was a moment in my life that all I had was a bible this big and a radio the same size and a 6 by 8 foot cell and I believed that those two things could change my life I believed that music had the power to change my life and God had the power to change my life and I want to tell y'all right now Jesus is for everybody. Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by no music label. Jesus is Jesus, and anybody can have a relationship with him. I love you, Lord. He thanks the Lord. He thanks his wife. He thanks his record label. He thanks his fans. He brings out a little Bible a small little Bible and he speaks gospel to a room full of people who desperately need to hear the gospel That is to me is far more real and brave than subscribing to and reciting these incantations to signal loyalty to a political tribe. What he said is perfect. He said that Jesus Christ is for everybody, not left or right or red or blue or Democrat or Republican or gay or straight or black or white. He says Jesus is for everyone. And his story, his life story is the epitome of that. He went from doing drugs in jail, locked up, and now he's on stage where he just won a Grammy. Nobody is too far gone for the goodness and the graciousness and the mercy of our Lord and Savior, our creator. Other people, they took that stage and they basically just started praising themselves in their virtue signaling to the world, reminding everyone how great they are, how morally superior they are for their opinion on ice and immigration. But Jelly Roll, really, he did the opposite. He took the attention off of himself and he praised Jesus. He was light in a very, very dark room. But that did not stop him from being asked specifically about what's going on in the world. Watch this. Would you be willing to comment on what's going on in our country right now? I don't really. So this is the truth. And I'm glad somebody asked because I love talking about this stuff when people care to hear my opinion, but So I can tell you that people shouldn't care to hear my opinion, man. You know, I'm a dumb redneck I haven't watched enough. I didn't have a phone for 18 months. I've had one for four months and don't have social media I'm I hate to be the artist ecstatic aloof, but I just I've become so disconnected from what's happening and I'm just not a I grew up in a house of like insane pandemonium and like you'd like I didn't even know politics were real until I was in my mid 20s in jail. Like, that's how disconnected when you grow up in a drug addict household, you think we like have common calls about what's happening in world politics? Like, we're just trying to find a way to survive, man, you know, and I have a lot to say about it. And I'm going to in the next week and everybody's going to hear exactly what I have to say about it in the most loud and clear way I've ever spoken in my life. So I look forward to it. I will say I don't really love the stance of, you know, I'm not a political person. I don't I don't have a position on these issues. I don't really love that because I don't think it's relevant. Like, I don't think you have to be a political person because I don't really think these issues are political issues at the heart of them. Inevitably, they've become political issues. But I think these issues are moral issues, humanitarian issues. but I can appreciate his response because he understands that he's not there to speak to what has been deemed political issues. And realistically, it's not like these issues affect him directly in his personal life, but I can appreciate him saying, look, not what I'm here to do, not what I'm here to talk about. I just want a Grammy for crying out loud. Ask me about that. Ask me about my talent or my hard work or the sacrifices that I've had to make. Don't ask me about politics and what's going on and trying to bait me into saying orange man bad like so many other people on that stage did. But he did follow up by saying we'll be understanding his position a little more in the following weeks, which I'm curious what that means. Maybe he will come out with some sort of Jason Aldean-esque song. I have no idea. And maybe that's not a good idea for him to do. I don't know. But you remember Jason's song, Try That in a Small Town. Maybe Jelly Roll is going to go down that path. We'll see. I guess in a week or so, he says. But it wasn't just artists and singers at the Grammys in the audience with their glitz and their glam and their hair and their makeup, because a sitting Supreme Court justice was also there. Ketanji Brown Jackson, she was there. Actually, she was nominated for an award for a Grammy. I think it was something to do with her audiobook memoir, which this to me, I mean, how I view it personally is a problem. But I guess legally her being nominated wasn't the problem. I think the problem comes in when you have Ketanji Brown Jackson, again, a sitting Supreme Court justice who stood and clapped in solidarity with the crowd celebrating the dismantling of laws that she is constitutionally obligated to uphold without favor or fear. How in the world can we believe that this woman could ever be impartial after witnessing that? How can we believe that she would uphold the laws that she has sworn to uphold? We have an activist, which I think we've known this for a long time, right? Going back to when Senator Blackburn asked Justice Jackson what a woman is, to which she said, I don't know, because I'm not a biologist. we have an activist on the highest court in the land. And I'm not saying that because she's a liberal justice, a sworn guardian of the constitution. I would have a problem if Justice Clarence Thomas was there, sat in the front row with, again, the glitz and the glam and the celebrity circus where politics is performed louder than the music and visibly endorsed, publicly signaled his approval or maybe disapproval of lawlessness of an issue that has repeatedly and will continue to come before his court in the form of emergency docket applications or statutory interpretation cases or constitutional challenges to executive enforcement authority. That's crossing a line. I believe it's disqualifying. If nothing else, I believe that Justice Jackson should be recused from cases pertaining to immigration and customs enforcement and in talking about reclaiming the Constitution, reclaiming the law. Don Lemon was also present at the Grammys. Watch this here. because only in Hollywood does violating the civil rights of Christians, that's what Don Lemon recently did, only in Hollywood does doing that get you a standing ovation from elites. That tells you everything that you need to know. Why isn't he in jail? Or like, why at least have we not seen a mugshot yet, a picture of Don Lemon in handcuffs. I think that would make this a little bit better. The American people were really sick and tired of influential people, especially committing crimes and getting off with what seems like a slap on the wrist. There are still several people from the previous administration who I believe deserve to be locked up in jail for their crimes against humanity. Mayorkas, for one, the former DHS secretary. President Trump, following the Grammys, he tweeted this. He said, the Grammys are the worst, in all caps, true Trump fashion, virtually unwatchable. CBS is lucky to not have this garbage litter on their airwaves any longer. The host Trevor Noah, whoever he may be, is almost as bad as Jimmy Kimmel at the Low Ratings Academy awards. Noah said incorrectly about me that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. Wrong. I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island nor anywhere close. And until tonight's false and defamatory statements, I have never been accused of being there, not even by the fake news media Noah a total loser better get his facts straight and get them straight fast It looks like I be sending my lawyers to sue this poor pathetic talentless dope of an MC and suing him for plenty Ask little George Slopadopolis and others how well that worked out. Also ask CBS, get ready, Noah. I'm going to have some fun with you. President DJT. Love him or hate him. He does not mince his words. You never have to wonder what he is thinking. Also worth noting that Nicki Minaj was not in attendance at the Grammys this year. Interestingly enough, her only Grammys performance was in 2012, which that was the year that the Grammys received an all-time high of 39.9 million viewers. This year's viewership did not even come close to that number, in large part because of the anti-American sentiment that was espoused by so many artists. If you're looking on screen right now, I have a graph here that shows the interest over time. and if you look, the red line is the Grammys, the blue line is Nicki Minaj. She's outpacing the Grammys in worldwide searches. That is queen behavior and she has been dropping bombs on X following the Grammys. She tweeted this, she said, your favorite artist has been practicing rituals in a satanic cult where they take babies from other countries and mutilate and kill them as a form of blood sacrifice to their god. You see, when your master is Satan, you must constantly shed blood. However, the jig is up. It's pretty cryptic. And those are pretty serious allegations. She also posted this. It's a picture of Jay-Z. And she says, are y'all understanding that these people have been sacrificing children as a way of gaining and maintaining power? If you ever vote Democrat again, actually, she says demon crap, you're just as soulless as they are and will perish. Maybe it's time for me to do some story time since I was trying not to say what I know, yet they continue to attempt bullying me. She is about to bring the industry down. She would, if she did these story times, which she posted, should I do a daily story time about who's been doing what it's a poll? I voted. Yes, please. Nikki. We want a story time with the queen. We want all of the tea and the receipts. Uh, final thoughts here on the Grammys. Celebrities just haven't figured out yet that their political opinions mean nothing. They don't mean anything. All these people came out to support Kamala Harris, by the way, in the 2024 presidential election, and she was still demolished by President Trump, despite their endorsements, despite Megan Thee Stallion twerking on stage or Cardi B, who could hardly make it through her speech because the teleprompter wasn't working. And I just wish I could ask them, these celebrities, you know, what is the end goal? What precisely are you trying to do? Like lay it out very, very clear. No more cryptic ice out because if ice were out, if ice left Minneapolis, they still wouldn't be happy. So what is it that you want? Is it total lawlessness? I mean, we know that they want President Trump out of the Oval Office in whatever means necessary, but it's tired. We had an election. People voted for President Trump. They voted for what he is doing. We see through their rhetoric and their talking points now in the year 2026. And again, I think it's important to make it clear. I'm not telling these people to not have a political opinion because honestly, I hate when people tell me that. I hate when people say, you know, stay in your lane, I'll speak to an issue, let's say immigration. And I voice my opinion and people will say, you know, just stick to talking about men and women's sports or gender ideology. I hate when I'm told that because I'm a human with a functioning brain and with a platform. I feel like I should be able to speak to the issues that I care about, that I feel passionately about, regardless of whatever that issue is. And if you want to unfollow me for my stance, for my opinion on these things, then by all means, feel free to do that. But my message is kind of the same to these celebrities. People aren't following you for your political opinions. You have a right to give them. That's what makes America so great. That's why so many people want to come into this country. But you're not free from the backlash or the consequences of speaking about these political issues. So feel free. But my advice to you is that the working class people don't need out of touch, rich celebrities telling them how to feel about issues that will never impact you, these rich celebrities, or maybe I shouldn't say never. They likely won't impact these celebrities in the same way that they do working class people, the people that they're trying to reach that they're talking to when they're on the stage at the Grammys or the Oscars, the Golden Globes, that those are people who need to budget for groceries or for gas. These are people who don't live behind gated communities with armed guards outside the front. People are tired. They're tired of out of touch, narcissistic, hypocritical celebrities telling them how to feel, what to think, what to do. And last thing, we know you were very quick to say F ICE, but were you willing to say F Joe Biden when more than 300,000 children were simply just lost, unaccounted for under his administration, or the 145,000 who have been trafficked under Biden, children that were trafficked under Biden that have now been located, per Tom Homan. Did you say anything about them or any of the plethora of women, specifically women, that have been murdered or raped or brutalized at the hands of illegal aliens? You claim to support human rights, yet you haven't been able to bring yourself to show solidarity with those fighting for their liberty, women and children fighting for their liberty in Iran, it's been reported that more than 35,000 people have died in Iran. And guess what? Their oppressor isn't Western. He isn't white or Jewish or capitalist or colonial. No, their oppressor is a non-Western Islamist theocracy that has spent decades slaughtering its own people. Iranian people are in the streets chanting death to the dictator. And you guys make it seem as if you oppose dictators. You constantly call President Trump one, yet you're silent about the Islamic regime that executes people for dancing in the street, for singing too loudly, for showing their hair. Your pins and your political statements, they're performative. You don't care. You don't care about people being oppressed or brutalized so long as it's done by the enemies of your enemies. Normal people, people who are grounded with reality, they say enough And so my message to all of you who are listening to this podcast, after watching the Grammys, after seeing the clips online, you may feel as if you're in the minority again. It might feel like 2020 or 2021 again, where you feel like you're the crazy one for having the stance that you do on these issues. Everyone else shares the same opinion, but you don't. I'm here to tell you that you're not the crazy one. You are not in the minority. We had an election a little over a year ago and 77 million people turned out to support the president and to support his agenda. And he's doing just that. He's doing the things he campaigned on. Promises made, promises kept. You are not crazy. Don't let them, the elitists in Hollywood, make you think that you are. Thank you guys for tuning into the Riley Gaines show. We will see you again later this week. See you next time.
