Olivia Wilde Says She’s “Appalled and Sickened” by ICE Killing

Park City, Utah — As stars gathered this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival to celebrate cinema, actress and director Olivia Wilde used her red-carpet platform to address a deeply unsettling event unfolding back in the United States.

Wilde, who is in Park City promoting two films — the Seth Rogen comedy “The Invite” and her appearance in Gregg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex” — spoke emotionally about the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, January 24, 2026.

“I’m appalled and sickened,” Wilde said on the Sundance red carpet. “We’re all here getting to celebrate something really beautiful and hopeful in film storytelling. But the world is hurting right now, and this country is hurting. And it’s appalling.”

The incident in Minneapolis has sparked widespread shock and protests, with critics of federal immigration enforcement calling it the latest example of what they describe as aggressive tactics by agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol.

Pretti, an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, was fatally shot by federal agents during a protest near an immigration enforcement action on Nicollet Avenue. Video shared on social media and by witnesses appears to show Pretti unarmed, holding a phone, and attempting to help another person before he was tackled and shot. Family members and local leaders have questioned federal accounts of the shooting and are calling for a full, independent investigation.

“It’s outrageous. People are being murdered,” Wilde continued, her voice echoing the growing public distress. “And, I don’t want to normalize seeing people being murdered on the internet. On film. It’s hideous.”

Wilde’s comments come amid intensified protests across Minneapolis and other U.S. cities as residents push back against the surge of federal immigration enforcement operations in the area — an initiative sometimes referred to by local leaders as Operation Metro Surge, which has already seen multiple controversial confrontations between agents and civilians.

“I think so many Americans are [speaking out],” she said. “I mean, you see the marches happening around the country. Americans are speaking up in huge numbers, and it’s dangerous to be a protester now and people are still going out to the streets, which is incredibly inspiring.”

For many at Sundance — and beyond — Wilde’s remarks brought the festival’s celebratory atmosphere into sharp contrast with rising national tensions over immigration policy and the use of federal force.