Billie Eilish has been accused of hypocrisy over her “stolen land” anti-ICE speech at the Grammys after a Native American tribe said her $3m (£2.9m) mansion was built on its ancestral ground.
The singer, who won Song of the Year at the ceremony on Sunday, used her acceptance speech to criticise Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and mass deployment of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, saying “no one is illegal on stolen land.”
The Tongva tribe, an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, has since claimed Eilish’s Los Angeles property was built on its homeland.
A spokesperson for the tribe suggested the singer should have referenced the tribe specifically in her speech, in which she shouted “f— ICE” from the stage.
“Eilish has not contacted our tribe directly regarding her property, we do value the instance when public figures provide visibility to the true history of this country,” a spokesperson for the tribe told the Daily Mail.
“It is our hope that in future discussions, the tribe can explicitly be referenced to ensure the public understands that the greater Los Angeles Basin remains Gabrieleno Tongva territory.”
Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown and the violent tactics used by federal officials have sparked controversy in recent weeks, particularly following the fatal shooting of two US citizens by federal agents in Minnesota.
In the wake of the Tongva tribe’s statement, Eilish was accused of virtue signalling, with Republican senator Mike Lee suggesting that she should “immediately” give her land back to Native Americans.
“Oh, gee, this ‘stolen land’ nonsense again? Maybe she should step up and forfeit her Southern California mansion since it is supposedly on ‘stolen land,’” Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, wrote on X.
Brandon Tatum, a political commentator said: “What about if we all showed up to her mansion and said we are going to live there now? It’s stolen land right? She doesn’t own it.”
In 1769 members of the Tongva tribe were coerced to work for Spanish settlers, and were resettled in the process.
In 1848, when California was ceded to the US following the Mexican-American war, their land was handed over to the Americans without consultation with the Tongva people.
