【1997 Archives】

U2997 Archivesmade a career (and a lot of money) out of being political, and their performance at Sunday's Grammy Awards was another shot fired in their current battle against U.S. President Donald Trump.

The band performed the new tune "Get Out Of Your Own Way" in a pre-taped segment from a barge with the Statue of Liberty in the background because Bono is no longer capable of subtly. And, at the end, Bono took to his bullhorn (again, subtly!) and proclaimed (at the 3:32 mark), “Blessed are the shithole countries, for they gave us the American dream." CBS bleeped out "shithole" remark, but other networks re-aired the clip uncensored.

This is, of course, a reference to Trump's recent very terrible comments about immigrants from poor countries like Haiti, El Salvador, and some in Africa.

In case you're still not convinced that Trump is the target here, the song's video is a direct attack on Trump's appeal to white supremacists and includes the lines "And resistance / Love has got to fight for its existence / The enemy has armies of assistance" and "The face of liberty's starting to crack / She had a plan up until she got smacked in the mouth."

On a night of many messages, ranging from the political to the "Time's Up" movement, U2 brought their metaphor sledgehammer to make sure there was no mistaking where they were directing their ire.

Yelling at the Statue of Liberty? Message received, Bono.

Message received.

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