‘Country’ Singer Shaboozey Says “Immigrants Built America”

Shaboozey, the Nigerian-American country artist born Collins Obinna Chibueze in Virginia to immigrant parents, sparked heated backlash after his emotional 2026 Grammy acceptance speech for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, where he tearfully declared, “Immigrants built this country, literally,” dedicating the win to illegal immigrants, and also his hardworking Nigerian mother and all children of immigrants while praising their contributions of culture, music, stories, and traditions that “give America color.”

Critics, particularly some Black Americans, slammed the statement as “loud and wrong,” accusing him of erasing the foundational role of enslaved Africans—who were forcibly brought, not immigrated and did work through unpaid labor.

While Shaboozey, raised in the U.S. with ties to both Nigerian heritage and Virginia’s cultural blend, likely intended to honor immigrant sacrifices including his own family’s, the phrasing struck many as dismissive of the distinct, brutal history of chattel slavery versus voluntary immigration, fueling calls to reject what some see as cultural appropriation or historical revisionism in his rise.

(Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)