Country singer Kacey Musgraves is facing calls for a boycott after using the opening night of her rescheduled Chicago run to encourage concertgoers to donate to an organization helping immigrant children whose parents, she said, had been “deported unfairly.”
The political controversy came during an already unconventional performance at Chicago’s United Center on Friday, where Musgraves made her entrance sitting atop a massive disco ball designed to resemble a pair of hanging testicles.
Musgraves had previously canceled the scheduled opening night in Chicago along with three other performances before finally bringing her “Middle of Nowhere Tour” to the United Center.
Once onstage, the Grammy-winning singer turned the audience’s attention toward the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, a Chicago-based organization she has supported previously.
Musgraves encouraged concertgoers to contribute to the group and described what she understood its work to involve.
“It’s a wonderful organization, and they help give aid, legal aid, and money to children whose parents have been deported unfairly,” Musgraves said from the stage. “It’s not a political thing, it’s just these kids need help.”
Her assertion that the appeal was “not a political thing” did not prevent it from becoming one.
Musgraves’ use of the phrase “deported unfairly” immediately raised questions among critics about what she meant and which deportations she considered unjust.
OutKick commentator Tomi Lahren responded on X with a straightforward question: “What is an unfair deportation?”
Other reactions were considerably harsher.
“Shut up and sing Kasey (sic)!! Why do musicians think they Can draw a line in the sand? You alienate 50% of your audience,” one person wrote, according to the New York Post.
Another explicitly called for a boycott, writing, “You just earned yourself a big ol’ boycott, you traitor. Illegal aliens and their kids don’t deserve our patronage and neither do you.”
One listener put the protest in musical terms.
“I’m deporting Musgraves from all my music playlists,” the user wrote.
