Kelsea Ballerini Makes Powerful Statement About Gun Control at 2023 CMT Awards

Country star Kelsea Ballerini hosted the CMT Awards last night; it marked the third time the singer-songwriter was in charge of anchoring the annual award show alongside fellow country music star Kane Brown.

The CMT Awards were held only a few days after a mass shooting took place in Nashville, Tennessee where three children and three adults were slain at The Covenant School. Only a few country music stars like Maren Morris, Carly Pearce, Margo Price, Jason Isbell, and Jelly Roll used their platform to speak out, but last night on national television, Ballerini opened the show with an emotional, stirring monologue and called for change.

She shared, "On March 27th, 2023, three 9 year olds, Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs, along with Dr. Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak, and Mike Hill walked into The Covenant School and didn't walk out. The community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the US this year alone stretches from coast to coast."

She went on to add her own personal experience from 2008 of seeing one of her 15-year-old classmates be killed in front of her when she was a student at Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee.

"Tonight's broadcast is dedicated to the ever-growing list of families, friends, survivors, witnesses, and responders whose lives continue to forever be changed by gun violence," Ballerini added. "I pray deeply that the closeness and the community we feel through the next few hours can soon turn into action, like real action, that moves us forward together to create change for the safety of our kids and our loved ones."

Later on in the evening, Ballerini performed her new single "IF YOU GO DOWN (I'M GOIN' DOWN TOO)" alongside drag queens. This also feels timely as the Tennessee government is actively trying to ban drag shows and make it illegal in the state.

On Instagram, she thanked CMT for "celebrating love, self-expression, and performance."

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