Dave Matthews has never been shy about saying exactly what he thinks.
The Dave Matthews Band frontman turned his attention to the Trump administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
Matthews shared a lengthy Instagram video on Friday (Jan 9), responding to the January 7th killing of the 37 year old woman, who was shot by an ICE officer during an operation in Minnesota.
Walking through his neighbourhood on his birthday, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee delivered a blunt, emotional message that cut straight through official talking points.
“I don’t want my taxes to pay for ICE, to masked thugs to roam our streets and terrorize our communities and rip families apart,” Matthews said.
“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.”
According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials, Good was shot while sitting in her car after allegedly attempting to “run over” an officer, video footage from the incident shows Good trying to drive away seconds before shots were fired.
Matthews directly challenged the official narrative. “Which brings me to Renee Nicole Good,” he continued. “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.”
He went further, dissecting the footage frame by frame. “Maybe if they show you one and they slow it down and they tell you where to look, you might think, maybe there’s a chance, maybe there’s a chance that the gunman was felt threatened. But from most angles, near and far, it looks like she was trying to get away, and he shot her three times in the head, murdered in cold blood.”
Good’s death has sparked protests across Minneapolis, with residents rallying against ICE’s presence in the city, Mayor Jacob Frey has publicly called for federal agents to leave, describing the shooting as a reckless use of power that ended a life.
Matthews also took aim at broader U.S. foreign policy, criticising military actions in Venezuela and what he described as Trump’s threats toward other sovereign nations.
He closed the video with a stark assessment of the moment. Calling members of the Trump administration “deeply dishonest people,” Matthews added, “These are dark times. F—k ICE.”
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