At the 2025 BET Awards, Doechii had something to say.
The Florida rapper continued her winning year by being named best female hip hop artist at Monday night’s (June 9) show, and instead of using her speech to talk about all she’s accomplished since dropping the critically acclaimed mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal, she addressed the protests happening right outside the Peacock Theater in downtown L.A., criticizing President Trump‘s use of force.
“I do wanna address what’s happening right now outside of the building,” she said of the protests against ICE raids happening around the city. “There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order. Trump is using military force to stop a protest. And I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us. What type of government is that?”
She then added that she felt a responsibility to use her platform to speak out. “People are being swept up and torn from their families, and I feel it’s my responsibility as an artist to use this moment to speak up for all oppressed people,” she said to raucous applause. “For Black people, for Latino people, for trans people, for the people in Gaza, we all deserve to live in hope and not in fear and I hope we stand together, my brothers and my sisters, against hate and we protest against it.”
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In a move that’s been highly criticized, President Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the weekend as an attempt to quell people protesting against ICE immigration raids that have been happening all over the city. And Doechii isn’t the only artist to speak out: Tyler, The Creator, The Game, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Rage Against the Machines’s Tom Morello, and Kehlani have all voiced support for the protesters as well.
Watch Doechii’s speech below:
