The musician called the murder of Minnesota poet Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent “deeply upsetting to me and to so many people. We can’t just let it slide.”

Dave Matthews rips into ‘shameful,’ ‘revolting’ Trump administration and ICE after fatal shooting: ‘F--- them’

The musician called the murder of Minnesota poet Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent "deeply upsetting to me and to so many people. We can't just let it slide."

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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January 11, 2026 6:00 p.m. ET

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Dave Matthews performing in Boston in 2025. Credit:

Taylor Hill/Getty

Dave Matthews rebukes Donald Trump's presidential administration on every level.

In a lengthy video shared to his official Instagram on Saturday, the prolific Dave Matthews Band frontman expressed his gratitude "for neighbors and community" while taking a stroll through the streets of near his home in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle.

Matthews reflected on "how lucky I've been in this land," and how he "repays" that luck through paying his taxes. But the musician is not happy about several operations the Trump administration is currently using tax revenue to fund.

"I don't want my taxes to pay for invading foreign countries under false premises," Matthews said. "I don't want my taxes to pay for a genocide in Gaza. I don't want my taxes to pay for ICE, for masked thugs to roam our streets and terrorize our communities and rip families apart."

Matthews has long used his platform to champion progressive political causes and issue criticisms of conservative efforts. Matthews supported the 2020 presidential campaign of Democratic Socialist senator Bernie Sanders, has donated proceeds from his live shows to LGBTQ organizations, and has critiqued Trump from the stage on several occasions.

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The abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces to face drug trafficking charges in New York; the ongoing bombardment of the Palestinian territory of Gaza by neighboring Israel, which has been greatly facilitated by both the Biden and Trump administrations; the shooting of Minnesotan poet Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent —Matthews doesn't want any part of them.

Dave Matthews being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

"We should be taking care of each other. We should be minding each other. We should be housing the homeless. We shouldn't be, you know, throwing people to the ground," he said.**

Matthews then focused his attention on Good, whose killing has sparked nationwide debate. The "Ants Marching" singer described Good as "murdered in front of her fellow citizens in Minneapolis, murdered in the streets, and no matter what narrative this administration is trying to sell us, we can see the videos." As for the Trump administration's repeated efforts to justify Good's killing "mind-boggling, and it's deeply upsetting to me and to so many people, and we can't just let it slide."

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"Trump, to Kristi Noem, to Stephen Miller, to Pete Hegseth, to [Kash] Patel to [Pam] Bondi, [all] of them," Matthews continued, "just deeply, deeply dishonest people. Just cowardly, shameful, dishonest people. F--- them. They are revolting."**

"I'm grateful to be here, but I am deeply ashamed of this government, the way they're treating our neighbors, outside and inside this country," he said. "I hope y'all are having a good year so far and are taking care of each other and loving each other. Sorry if I went a little dark, but these are dark times."

ICE agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

Christopher Juhn/Anadolu via Getty

To cap it off, Matthews said in no uncertain terms, "F--- ICE. Yeah. If that language offends you — come on. We all heard it before. I hope you know where my heart is. I don’t like these monsters that are running the show right now. They are ungrateful, greedy monsters. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. I would like them all to be locked away in windowless rooms. Terrible people. Face the truth — they are dreadful, they are shameful."**

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