Jelly Roll Dances Around ICE Questions At Grammys

Country singer Jelly Roll brushed aside questions concerning the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a press conference after the Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 1). 

“People shouldn’t care to hear my opinion,” Jelly Roll began, holding one of the three Grammys that he won over the weekend ceremonies held in Los Angeles, California. “I’m a dumb redneck, you know…I didn’t have a phone for 18 months, I’ve had one for four months and I didn’t have social media.”

Jelly Roll, aka Jason Deford, touched on his background again as a reason for being “disconnected,” saying: “I grew up in a house of, like, insane pandemonium. Like, I didn’t even know politics were f*cking real until I was in my mid-20s in jail. Like, that’s how disconnected [you are] when you grew up in a drug addict household.”

He concluded, “I’m going through it 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 spoke in my life. So I look forward to it on the Internet.”

The singer, who has been celebrated for his uplifting music with Christian themes, was one of the few artists who didn’t speak out about the federal agency’s actions targeting immigrants nationwide. Many others, from Bad Bunny to Kehlani, used their time on stage to call out ICE, with others wearing “ICE OUT” pins in solidarity.

Jelly Roll has come under fire in the past for appearing neutral, defending himself against criticism after shaking hands with President Donald Trump at a UFC event in 2024. “I don’t know enough about politics to act like I know anything that’s going on, what anybody’s standing for policy-wise,” he said on his wife Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast at the time. “I genuinely don’t know.”

“Dude, there’s not a chance in hell that I’m not going to meet the president-elect. I don’t care,” the 40-year-old continued. “If I got a call to meet Joe Biden, I would have stopped at any point and [met] him. That’s the active president. I don’t care about what he thinks or I think about policies.”