Kelsea Ballerini had a night of triumph and tragedy when she co-hosted the 2023 CMT Music Awards on Sunday, April 2.
The country singer dedicated the ceremony to the victims of last week’s shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, sharing a powerful, poignant tribute and reflecting on her personal experiences with gun violence in schools.
Kelsea Ballerini Tears Up As She Talks About Her Experience With A School Shooting
While many know Ballerini as a musical force, the singer has shown that there is much more to her, especially when it comes to gun violence. The 29-year-old wore his heart on his sleeve as he told the audience and viewers at home his personal experience of losing a schoolmate to gun violence.
“On March 27, 2023, three nine-year-old children — Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs — along with Dr. Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, got into Covenant School and didn’t get out,” the teary-eyed “Mountain With a View” singer began.
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The choked-up star emphasized that it was important for him to “stand here and share this moment” because of what happened on August 21, 2008, when he lost his classmate. In the words of a Tennessee native:
“I saw Ryan McDonald, my 15-year-old classmate at Central High School, lose his life to a gun in our cafeteria.”
He then dedicated the event, held in Austin, Texas, to “the list of family friends, survivors, witnesses and responders” that continues to grow as a result of gun violence.
The “Miss Me More” performer concluded with a prayer that the “closeness and community” felt during the ceremony “can soon turn into action – like, real action – that moves us forward together to create change for the safety of our children and our loved ones.”
Ballerini’s heartfelt speech was met with a standing ovation from the crowd and fans on CMT’s official Instagram page, where the clip was dropped. “Keep sharing your heart,” one fan encouraged the National Music Association Award nominee while another commented, “I love her and especially how loud she speaks.”
“Enough is enough. Something has to be done. Not tomorrow. Not a week from now. Not a month from now. It needs to be NOW,” a third viewer enthusiastically typed. Meanwhile, some argue about the “real cause” of gun violence in the United States.
In fact, one claims that part of the offense can be attributed to confusion about one’s gender. In case you missed it, the possibility of members of the trans community committing such crimes has been an ongoing debate since the perpetrators of the school shooting were identified as transgender.
Even politicians are not exempt from controversy as Reuters reported that US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and US Senator JD Vance suggested in recent social media posts that the shooter’s gender identity may have played a role in the murder.
The outlet noted that many trans-Tennesseans felt insulted by the government’s efforts to control the lives of LGBTQ+ people and had always worried about their safety even before the shooting.
One source, Mykul Coscia, stated that while he is not afraid of doctors or drag queens harming children like the new law, he is increasingly afraid of school shootings – which have become frequent in the US, where guns are easy to obtain.
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Ballerini was more than willing to share how the Christmas holidays affected her feelings following her divorce from Morgan Evans last August. The Blast shared that the Black River signee broke the revelation with a photo showing him wearing a green sweater.
She paired the comfortable long-sleeved dress with minimal make-up, including a cat-eye drawing on her hood, and her hair was styled into a ridiculous bun. The American Music Award nominee wrote below candidly:
“Hi. Sending you hugs. The holidays can be both a wonderful time and also bring up some big and difficult feelings. protect that heart.”
The “half from my hometown” singer and her now ex-husband were married for nearly five years before splitting amicably last year. The ex-lovers allegedly spent several years in therapy in an effort to work on their marriage. Ballerini announced the “difficult decision” to part ways in a lengthy statement shared on social media.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
