While hosting the Billboard Music Awards this Saturday, singer Kelly Clarkson got emotional and ditched a planned moment of silence for the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting and instead called for a “moment of action.”
“This is going to be so hard,” Clarkson said, choking back tears. “There’s something I’d like to say about the tragedy Friday at Santa Fe High School.”
“They also wanted me to do a moment of silence,” she continued. “And I’m so sick of moment of silences. It’s not working.”
“Why don’t we do a moment of action? Why don’t we do a moment of change?” Clarkson asked, prompting a round of applause from the audience. “Why don’t we change what’s happening? Because it’s horrible.”
Our hearts go out to all the victims in the Santa Fe community and their families. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/7ejLAd8nKk
— Billboard Music Awards (@BBMAs) May 21, 2018
“Parents should be able to send their children to school, church, movie theaters and clubs safely,” she added. “You should be able to live your life without that kind of fear. So we need to do better. People are failing our children. We’re failing our communities. We’re failing their families.”
Clarkson, who is a mother of four children, said that she couldn’t imagine “getting that phone call or that knock on the door” telling her that she’d lost a child.
The native Texan said that she’s tired of grieving for kids who have “died for absolutely no reason at all.”
Eight students and two teachers were killed on Friday when 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis opened fired at Santa Fe High School in Houston, Texas.
Featured image via screen grab
