In less than a decade Lilly Singh went from making home videos to becoming 3rd highest paid YouTuber and then landing her own talk show on ABC called 'A Little Late With Lilly'.
She is a Canadian born Punjabi, though she identifies as a secularist she clearly appreciates her heritage enough to get tattoos on her wrists which say "Nirbhao" and "Nirvair" in Gurmukhi.
Her background has been a major source of her comedy with her iconic Indian parent impressions, but now it has showed up in a more serious way.
The Grammy's happened over this past weekend and Lilly Singh used the opportunity to bring attention to farmers who have been roughing it on the streets of Delhi for months now. Her Instagram and twitter post invited the media to cover this, the world's largest protest movement, more:
I know red carpet/award show pictures always get the most coverage, so here you go media. Feel free to run with it ✊🏽 #IStandWithFarmers #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/hTM0zpXoIT
— Lilly // #LateWithLilly (@Lilly) March 15, 2021
Lilly's solicitation for the media to "run with it" worked. Not to mention a slew of Indian media that reported on Lilly's mask, and words, here is some international media that reported:
-'Buzzfeed' gave a brief overview of the situation as well as highlighting the call from the UN which expressed human rights concerns: Lilly Singh Wore A Message On Her Mask To Support India's Farmer Protests
-'ScoopWhoop' featured reactions on social media: Twitter Cheers On As Lilly Singh Gives A Bold Shoutout To The Farmers' Protest At The Grammy's
-'Scroll.In' did a similar feature: YouTuber Lilly Singh wears ‘I Stand With Farmers’ mask at 63rd Grammy Awards
-The UK's 'Independent' talked about the post adding a bit about international relations between the two countries: Lilly Singh Grammys mask proclaims support for Indian farmers
-'Business Standard' touched on other celebrities who've made similar posts: Lilly Singh wears 'I stand with farmers' mask at Grammys red carpet
-'The Quint': Grammys: Twitter Lauds Lilly Singh's Message Supporting Farmers
-'Newsroom Post': YouTuber Lilly Singh ‘I Stand With Farmers’ mask at 2021 Grammys
-'The New Minute': At Grammy Awards, Lilly Singh takes a stand for farmers in India
-'Deccan Herald': Lilly Singh wears 'I stand with farmers' mask at Grammys red carpet
-'FirstPost': Grammy Awards 2021: Lilly Singh wears 'I stand with farmers' mask at event's red carpet
-'The News' : I stand with farmers: Lilly Singh makes political statement at Grammy Awards 2021
-'Gulf News': Grammys 2021: Lilly Singh makes a statement to support Indian farmers
-'News Bytes': Grammy Awards: Lilly Singh wears 'I Stand With Farmers' mask
-'ABP News': Indian-Canadian Comedian Lilly Singh Takes Farmers’ Protest To 63rd Grammy Awards
-'Khaleej Times': Grammys 2021: Lilly Singh wears 'I Stand With Farmers' face mask
-'East Mojo': YouTuber Lilly Singh wears pro-farmers message at Grammys
While it's normal for people to criticize celebrities for speaking, or not speaking, about societal issues in this case it surely has helped to educate more people on the nature of what's happening in Delhi. The increased media attention on the protests have been slow to include the concerning human rights concerns of internet black-outs, missing persons and prominent cases of dubious arrests like those of Nodeep Kaur and Disha Ravi. However, more exposure means more eyes which can only be a good thing as many human rights violations have been reported. For that reason BuzzFeed wins the main kudos for including an important tweet from the UN.
#India: We call on the authorities and protesters to exercise maximum restraint in ongoing #FarmersProtests. The rights to peaceful assembly & expression should be protected both offline & online. It's crucial to find equitable solutions with due respect to #HumanRights for all.
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) February 5, 2021
Good on Lilly for using her celebrity to bring attention, and education, about the farmers protests, and doing it with style.