Alicia Keys used her remarks at the Grammy Awards late Sunday to make an impassioned plea for diversity,
“This is not the time to shut down a diversity of voices. We’ve seen on this stage, talented, hardworking people from different backgrounds with different points of view, and it changes the game,” Keys, who accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, said.
“DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift. And the more voices, the more powerful the sound,” she added, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.
The comments from Keys come after President Trump has targeted DEI practices during the start of his second term in the White House.
“My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense — and these are policies that were absolute nonsense — throughout the government and the private sector,” Trump said in a speech delivered virtually last month to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump also penned an expected executive order that would “abolish” DEI offices within the departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
And last week, Trump seemed to blame diversity initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the wake of a deadly midair collision between an American Airlines flight and Army helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport.
“When destructive forces try to burn us down, we rise from the ashes like a phoenix. And as you see tonight, music is the unstoppable language that connects us all. It’s so beautiful,” Keys said at the Grammys.
“So let’s keep showing up with compassion, with empathy, what I call soul care. Keep opening the doors, the dreams of the world as it ought to be,” she added.
Also at the Grammys, Lady Gaga also spoke out in support of transgender people, saying they “are not invisible.”
“Trans people deserve love,” the “Rain On Me” singer said, also saying that their “community deserves to be lifted up.”
“Music is love,” she continued.
Judy Kurtz contributed reporting.
