CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed singer Brandi Carlile to Tuesday’s taping of The Late Show, where the duo looked back on a concert she gave in Minneapolis. According to Carlile, the concert was meant to honor the people there who showed the country how to “defeat something so oppressive.”
Colbert recalled that "in February, you played a show in Minneapolis. Raised $700,000—raised $700,000 for the families affected by ICE, and the show was live-streamed globally.”
He then wondered, “And I'm just curious, with that big platform, what is the message that you wanted to send?”
Stephen Colbert recalls singer Brandi Carlile raising "$700,000 for the families affected by ICE" and Carlile adds on "the people that already had tickets that were coming to the show and most of them have bought tickets, you know, before the, sort of, occupation that they were… pic.twitter.com/WZA1JqYDM6
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 8, 2026
Carlile replied, “I knew that there was going to be a certain kind of, like, like-mindedness in the crowd, you know, with the people… that already had tickets that were coming to the show, and most of them have bought tickets, you know, before the, sort of, occupation that they were dealing with as a city, and so they had just been through something really trying, and they had just set an example for the rest of the country for what it could look like to come together across the aisle in some way to defeat something so oppressive, which is what the takeover of ICE was in Minneapolis.”
She also remembered how “at the end of the concert, we had this amazing group of women called The Singing Resistance come out, and they wrote this song called ‘It's Okay to Change Your Mind,' and I can get emotional talking about it, and they sang this outside the lodging and hotel rooms of ICE agents.”
Colbert, who was perfectly willing to hurl Nazi allegations at ICE, echoed the idea, “I heard them sing that song. It was beautiful. And a beautiful idea too. That invitation, like, it's okay if at any point you feel, you feel you understand what you're doing is wrong, we're not going to give you hell for changing your mind. That's okay. Change your mind.”
Carlile then continued, “So, they came out on stage at the end, and we sang that song, and it streamed out to people that maybe didn't know what they were getting into, and that's what I was sort of hoping for. That would be my message, it's okay to change your mind.”
Throughout ICE’s time in Minneapolis, they never actually took over governance from the state or city. There was no “occupation,” but state and local officials do not have the right to declare themselves immune from federal law. Ultimately, Minneapolis proved that there is ultimately no such thing as a sanctuary city, and that is what Colbert and Carlile had a hard time accepting.
Here is a transcript for the April 7-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
4/8/2026
12:23 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: In February, you played a show in Minneapolis.
BRANDI CARLILE: Yeah.
COLBERT: Raised $700,000—raised $700,000 for the families affected by ICE, and the show was live-streamed globally.
CARLILE: Yeah.
COLBERT: A lot of music off of here, I assume? And I'm just curious, with that big platform, what is the message that you wanted to send?
CARLILE: Well, I knew that there was going to be a certain kind of, like, like-mindedness in the crowd, you know, with the people—
COLBERT: Your people.
CARLILE: —yeah—that already had tickets that were coming to the show, and most of them have bought tickets, you know, before the, sort of, occupation that they were dealing with as a city, and so they had just been through something really trying, and they had just set an example for the rest of the country for what it could look like to come together across the aisle in some way to defeat something so oppressive, which is what the takeover of ICE was in Minneapolis.
And at the end of the concert, we had this amazing group of women called The Singing Resistance come out, and they wrote this song called "It's Okay to Change Your Mind," and I can get emotional talking about it, and they sang this outside the lodging and hotel rooms of ICE agents.
COLBERT: I heard them sing that song. It was beautiful.
CARLILE: Just inviting them—
COLBERT: And a beautiful idea too.
CARLILE: Yeah.
COLBERT: That invitation, like, it's okay if at any point you feel, you feel you understand what you're doing is wrong, we're not going to give you hell for changing your mind. That's okay. Change your mind.
CARLILE: Yeah. Yeah. So, they came out on stage at the end, and we sang that song, and it streamed out to people that maybe didn't know what they were getting into, and that's what I was sort of hoping for. That would be my message, it's okay to change your mind.
