Billie Eilish mocked for move on ‘stolen land’ after native tribe's statement
Billie Eilish has been criticised over past 'stolen land' comments after she officiated her brother's wedding in California.
Her brother Finneas O’Connell, 29, tied the knot with girlfriend Claudia Sulewski over the weekend at the San Ysidro Ranch in California, and got the international singing star to run the ceremony.
Unfortunately for Eilish and O'Connell some critics have come out of the woodwork because of the wedding's location and comments the singer made earlier in the year about illegal immigration in the US.
Back in February, Eilish got the 'Song of the Year' Grammy for her tune 'Wildflower', and during her acceptance speech she criticised the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids which have been carried out across the US which have resulted in people being detained for lengthy periods of time or even killed.
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The 24-year-old wore an 'ICE out' badge as she said: "As grateful as I feel, I honestly don’t feel like I need to say anything but that no one is illegal on stolen land."
The 'stolen land' words have come back in criticism of her officiating her brother's wedding, as some social media critics accused her of being on it during the ceremony.
'Was this on stolen land', one asked, and the phrase was used by several others who don't appear to have had much of a problem with anyone else's actions regarding the principle of land ownership and historical colonisation.
The San Ysidro Ranch is located in a part of California that used to be part of Chumash land before European colonisation, though the people on the internet bleating about 'stolen land' appear more concerned with using that information as a stick to beat Eilish with rather than any historical interest.
If one is to extend the 'stolen land' issue across the US it's unclear what exactly they think Eilish is allowed to do and where, or whether they're just put out that she criticised ICE and their approach towards immigrants and communities.
During her Grammy speech she went on to say: "It’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now, and I just feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter.
"And f**k ICE, that's all I'm gonna say. Sorry!"
At the time this prompted a significant response as she was accused of virtue signalling and it was reported that her home is situated on land that used to belong to the Native American Tongva tribe.
A spokesperson for the Tongva expressed 'appreciation' for Eilish's speech, saying in a statement: "As the First People of the greater Los Angeles basin, we do understand that her home is situated in our ancestral land.
"Eilish has not contacted our tribe directly regarding her property, we do value the instance when public figures provide visibility to the true history of this country.
“It is our hope that in future discussions, the tribe can explicitly be referenced to ensure the public understands that the greater Los Angeles Basin remains Gabrieleno Tongva territory."
A law firm gave them a seemingly unsolicited and satirical offer of assistance to 'evict' Eilish from her home.
They've given no indication of an intention to try and pursue this.
O'Connell also defended his sister from the words of 'powerful old white men' for their outrage, saying those getting mad at Eilish were 'the most cartoonishly evil men on Earth'
LADbible Group have contacted representatives of Billie Eilish for comment.
Topics: Billie Eilish, Celebrity
Joe Harker