Madonna pays tribute to Orlando Pulse shooting survivors at The Celebration Tour
The singer dedicated a portion of her show to those affected by the shooting. (Getty)
Madonna paid tribute at The Celebration Tour in Miami to the LGBTQ+ victims of the horrific Pulse shooting.
The singer has long-included touching tributes during her Celebration Tour, including a montage of hundreds of people whose lives were claimed by AIDS, including her friends Keith Haring and Martin Burgoyne, her dance teacher Christopher Flynn, and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
And her latest tribute was just as heartbreaking. The singer invited survivors and friends and family of those killed in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting – which took place in Orlando, Florida – to her 9 April show, as per People.
The “Material Girl” hitmaker spoke to the crowd about those affected in the devastating incident, which took the lives of 49 people. Madonna said on the night: “I want to draw attention to that moment because nightclubs and music and dance are what bring us together.
“They shouldn’t be places or things that we do that bring us sadness and tragedy and murder and death and pain and suffering and trauma. But unfortunately, human beings are still stuck in some kind of a rut.
“I will always stand for the gays, always, because the gays have always stood for me,” adding that the awful event was “the worst terror attack since 9/11”.
“I make dance music. My job is to bring people together, to make people dance, to make people happy, to not judge. This s**t is not supposed to happen. Don’t forget about it,” Madonna said.
“When are we gonna learn? That’s a rhetorical question, but I’m telling you we all take part in this — you know why? Because we all judge each other,” she added. “We think we’re so elevated, we think we’ve seen it all, we’ve done it all, but even I speak evil to other people. Even I judge.
“We’re all guilty of discrimination in one way or another, therefore we are, on a global level, contributing to these crimes of hate. Therefore, I ask you all to remember your responsibility, and I ask you all to remember you have the ability to shine light in the world and to make a difference.”
The singer began to cry, before asking the audience to illuminate the room with their phone torches.
“Light up this room, so we are all reminded that their lives were not taken in vain, and that we are reminded that every one of us has the ability to shine our own light on each other and share it with the world, share it with our friends, share it with our families, share it with our loved ones, share it with the people we don’t understand, share it with the people we think are our enemies because at the end of the day, we don’t have any f**king enemies! We are our own enemies. Please remember that,” the star concluded in her speech.
The Celebration Tour will close with a free concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 4 May at Copacabana Beach.
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