Hollywood Stars Use Golden Globes Platform to Protest ICE After Fatal Shooting
A number of major film and television stars used the 83rd Golden Globe Awards on January 11, 2026, as a platform to draw attention to recent controversies surrounding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), by wearing protest pins on the red carpet and inside the ceremony.
Several celebrities wore black‑and‑white pins bearing slogans such as “BE GOOD” and “ICE OUT” in a symbolic stand against ICE’s conduct, particularly following the death of Renee Good, a Minneapolis mother who was shot and killed by an ICE officer last week.
Among those displaying the pins were Mark Ruffalo, Wanda Sykes, and Natasha Lyonne as they arrived at the Beverly Hilton hotel, while Jean Smart and Ariana Grande were seen wearing the symbols inside the awards ballroom. Smart wore hers visibly while accepting the Golden Globe for best performance by a female actor in a musical or comedy television series.
Organizers behind the initiative said the grassroots campaign aimed to draw public attention and prompt civic engagement around what they describe as excessive force by immigration authorities. Since Good’s death, protests have spread across the United States, with demonstrators calling for accountability and justice, including over a separate recent shooting incident involving Border Patrol agents in Portland.
“We need every part of civil society … to speak up,” said Nelini Stamp of advocacy group Working Families Power, one of the organizers distributing the pins. She and others involved echoed a long tradition of entertainers leveraging high‑profile cultural moments to spotlight social issues.
Lawmakers have promised legislative responses, and an FBI investigation into Good’s killing is underway. The Trump administration has publicly defended the ICE officer involved, saying he acted in self‑defense, though critics say the episode highlights broader concerns with immigration enforcement practices.
The protest at the Golden Globes marked a rare and visible insertion of political activism into an awards ceremony that was largely apolitical in previous years, showing how cultural events continue to intersect with major national debates.