The Grammys’ final run on CBS ended with a clear message from viewers: a music awards show that turns into an immigration rally risks losing the audience that keeps it alive.
Story Snapshot
- The 68th Grammy Awards drew about 14 million viewers, down 11% from the prior year.
- Viewership among adults 18–34 fell about 20%, from roughly 2.4 million to 2 million.
- Multiple celebrities made anti-ICE and pro-illegal-immigration statements on-air, including Billie Eilish’s profane jab at ICE during a major acceptance moment.
- President Donald Trump blasted the broadcast as “virtually unwatchable” and warned of potential lawsuits tied to a Trevor Noah monologue joke involving Epstein and Greenland.
Ratings Drop Marks an Uncomfortable Finale for CBS
The 68th Grammy Awards aired on CBS on a Sunday night in late January 2026, and the early takeaway wasn’t who won, but who didn’t watch. The broadcast drew about 14 million viewers, an 11% drop year over year. The biggest warning sign for advertisers was the 18–34 demo, which fell about 20%, from roughly 2.4 million to 2 million viewers.
WHAT A SHAME: Viewership for the Grammy Awards Show Was Way Down This Year – Especially With Young People https://t.co/mx4VLCbpPp #gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit
— 🇺🇸#TrumpWonBidenCheated #OrwellWasRight🗣 (@NaturalSci) February 4, 2026
This matters because the Grammys were already at a turning point: 2026 was CBS’s final year airing the show after a 54-year run, with the event scheduled to shift to Disney networks and streaming in 2027. With linear TV already under pressure from cord-cutting, the numbers make it harder to argue that viewers will tolerate a long broadcast if they believe it’s become less about music and more about messaging.
Celebrity Activism Centered on ICE and Immigration
The show featured unusually direct political signaling aimed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Multiple celebrities wore “ICE OUT” pins, and speeches and stage moments leaned into pro-immigration activism. The most widely cited example came when Billie Eilish, after winning Song of the Year, wore an “ICE OUT” pin and delivered remarks including “No one is illegal on stolen land,” capped with a profane attack on ICE.
The practical effect is straightforward: when a broadcast uses its biggest moments to take sides in a hot-button national policy fight, it narrows its audience. The research provided does not prove that politics alone caused the 18–34 decline—streaming habits and the general drop in live TV viewing remain major factors—but it does show the political content was prominent enough to become a defining storyline of the night.
Trump Responds, Targeting CBS and Trevor Noah
President Donald Trump responded the following day on Truth Social, describing the Grammys as the “WORST” and “virtually unwatchable.” Trump also criticized host Trevor Noah over a monologue joke that referenced Epstein and Greenland while implying a Trump-Clinton tie. Trump denied visiting Epstein’s island and warned of potential lawsuits against Noah and CBS, escalating what might have been a standard post-awards argument into a sharper media confrontation.
As of early February 2026, the available research indicates no lawsuits have been filed and the Truth Social post remains the main documented action. That distinction matters for readers trying to separate headline heat from follow-through. A threat of legal action is not the same as a filed complaint, and the research does not include additional documentation beyond the president’s public statement and the broadcast’s reported content.
What the Youth Drop Signals for Culture and Media
The Grammys’ steepest fall among younger adults lands at the intersection of culture and business. Advertisers pay close attention to the 18–34 and 25–54 categories, and the research notes prior-year softness in key demos as well. A shrinking youth audience creates pressure to move faster toward streaming, shorten formats, or rework content—especially when 2027 will bring a new distribution strategy under Disney.
For many conservative viewers, the bigger issue is not whether celebrities have opinions, but whether mass entertainment is being used to normalize radical political framing—like treating immigration enforcement itself as illegitimate—while dismissing the law-and-order concerns of ordinary Americans. The research does not quantify how many viewers tuned out specifically over anti-ICE rhetoric, but it does document that the rhetoric was front-and-center during a year when the broadcast lost millions of viewers overall.
Sources:
Grammy Awards viewership plummets 20% among young adults in final year on CBS
