Kelsea Ballerini dedicated the 2023 Country Music Television (CMT) Music Awards to victims of gun violence on Sunday.
The country singer and awards show co-host opened the ceremony by honouring the six people who were killed at The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee late last month.
"On March 27, 2023, three nine-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," she stated, looking visibly upset. "The community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone stretches from coast to coast."
The 29-year-old then spoke about her personal experience with gun violence and recalled, "On Aug. 21, 2008, I watched Ryan McDonald, my 15-year-old classmate at Central High School, lose his life to a gun in our cafeteria."
She concluded her sombre opening monologue by saying, "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. I pray deeply that the closeness and the community we feel through the next few hours of music can soon turn into action, like real action that moves us forward together to make change for the safety of our kids and our loved ones."
Kelsea hosted the show with Kane Brown and also took to the stage at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas to perform If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too).
She brought out RuPaul's Drag Race stars Olivia Lux, Kennedy Davenport, Manila Luzon and Jan Sport for the performance, seemingly showing her support for the LGBTQ+ community amid the drag show restrictions in Tennessee.
Earlier that evening, Kelsea hit the red carpet with her boyfriend, Outer Banks star Chase Stokes, for the first time. She had confirmed their relationship in February.
