Country music star Kelsea Ballerini was the talk of this year’s CMT Music Awards — and it all started with her heartfelt introduction to the awards show.
Ballerini, who co-hosted the CMT Awards with fellow nominee Kane Brown, is herself a survivor of a 2008 school shooting, and she opened the show with a tribute to the victims of the Nashville Covenant School shooting.
“On March 27, 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,” Ballerini said.
Ballerini called for more gun control, and — tears streaming down her face — recalled the death of a classmate, Ryan McDonald, 15, whose death she witnessed during the Central High School shooting in 2008.
“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,” she said.
In 2022, the Gun Violence Archive reported 647 mass shootings. The U.S. is has already experienced 130 mass shootings in 2023.
Later in the show, Ballerini took the stage to perform her latest single, “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” alongside several drag queens from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” including Manila Luzon, Kennedy Davenport, Jan and Olivia Lux.
Ballerini later tweeted a photo from the performance, writing, “if you go down, i’m going down too,” followed by a pride flag emoji.
Ballerini was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on April 16, 2019, by Carrie Underwood, and recently appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s new hit show “That’s My Jam.”
