Kacey Musgraves asked concertgoers to donate to an immigrant children’s charity and called the deportations “unfair.”
The eight-time Grammy winner made the appeal on Friday during the opening night of her “Middle of Nowhere” tour at the United Center in Chicago. It also happened to be her 38th birthday. She told the crowd she wanted donations to the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights as her birthday gift.
The Young Center pairs volunteers with attorneys and social workers to advocate for unaccompanied and separated immigrant children held in government custody.
“It’s a wonderful organization, and they help give aid, legal aid, and money to children whose parents have been deported unfairly,” Musgraves told the audience. “It’s not a political thing. It’s just, these kids need help.”
She kept the ask light. “50 cents, whatever the hell, I don’t know, whatever you want to do, but that would mean a lot to me,” she said. “If you don’t want to, that’s totally fine too.”
The crowd inside the arena cheered. Online, the reaction was a different story entirely.
As originally reported, OutKick host Tomi Lahren fired back with a blunt question directed at Musgraves’ characterization of the deportations: “What is an unfair deportation?” Conservative commentator Vince Langman accused Musgraves of ignoring American families who have lost loved ones to crimes committed by illegal immigrants, and asked, “What happened to the country music industry?”
The backlash spread quickly across social media. One verified X user posted a photo of Musgraves and wrote, “One more woke Country artist to ignore.” A reply followed: “I hope nobody spends their money on this American traitor.”
Explicit boycott threats came from multiple directions. “You just earned yourself a big ol’ boycott, you traitor,” one commenter wrote. “Illegal aliens and their kids don’t deserve our patronage and neither do you!” Another user announced a more personal form of protest: “I’m deporting Musgraves from all my music playlists.
Others went further. “Another TRAITOROUS woman who wants nothing more than to see our country fall,” one commenter wrote. A separate critic told Musgraves to “shut up and sing,” warning that mixing immigration politics into her concerts would push away a major portion of her fan base.
Several critics also questioned the financial logic of the appeal. One commenter claimed Musgraves is worth $15 million and argued she should fund the organization herself. “Yet she’s asking fans who already paid $150 to $350 for tickets to donate to support the children of illegal aliens,” the commenter wrote. “If she cares that much, she can fund it herself and let them live in one of her multi-million-dollar mansions.”
Musgraves has not publicly responded to the criticism following the Chicago show.