Ariana Grande Calls for "Love, Unity, Peace" and Gun Control After Las Vegas Shooting
As the country collectively mourns in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting—the deadliest mass shooting in American history—the series of events is hitting home for Ariana Grande.
Late Sunday, 64-year-old gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on the crowd of 22,000 Route 91 Harvest Festival concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino as Jason Aldean was mid-performance. Currently, according to Las Vegas authorities, 58 victims have died and 515 more have been injured in the shooting.
In mid-May, Grande had finished her concert at the Manchester Arena in the United Kingdom when a terrorist detonated a bomb, killing 22 victims and injuring more than 200 others.
"I am sorry for the pain and fear that you must be feeling and for the trauma that you, too, must be experiencing," she wrote in a public letter days after the attack. "We will never be able to understand why events like this take place because it is not in our nature, which is why we shouldn't recoil. We will not quit or operate in fear. We won't let this divide us. We won't let hate win."
On Monday, she responded to the Las Vegas shooting with similar grief and a call for action. "My heart is breaking for Las Vegas," she tweeted. "We need love, unity, peace, gun control & for people to look at this & call this what it is = terrorism."
Grande's manager Scooter Braun also issued a lengthy message to his followers, reflecting on the attack in Vegas while referencing his emotional memories from Manchester.
"I don't really have words this morning. I am deeply saddened. And as horrifying as it is to say I can't tell you I'm surprised," he began in a Our greatest challenges are ahead of us. What took place in Las Vegas last night should never happen What took place in Manchester should never happen. What took place in Charlottesville should never happen. But they are happening. And ALL of them are terrorist attacks."
As he continued, "They all strike fear in our ability to live our lives .They all make us question taking our children, our friends our loved ones to public events that are supposed to bring us joy…in fear of devastation. They are all attacks on our way of life and our way of love. So first let me say my heart breaks for all those affected in Las Vegas. Nothing we do can bring back your loved ones and I am so sorry. For those in the hospital recovering we are with you. Keep fighting. And for all of us..who are we? What will we choose to do in response? Will we just Instagram and move on? Will we think this is about a hashtag with the word #vegas in it? Or will we wait until the next one affects us? THIS One affects us. #LASVEGAS is ALL of us."
"This is an attack on your friends, your family, your kids, your way of life. So as we think about those lost and those hurt this morning …what do you and I owe them?" he said as he came to a conclusion.
"We owe them courage. We owe them our faith. We owe them our strength and out spirit to rise up and come together and demand not only better now but better Tomorrow. When I was in Manchester I witnessed something defiant. At the end of the One Manchester show…only 2 weeks after the attack and less than 24 hours since the London attack…when the cameras were off…the crowd of 55,000 brave souls started to sing. The echoed the words 'Manchester we're strong, we're strong, we're strong. We'll keep singing our songs, our songs our songs.' This repeated for 15 minutes as they exited. Defiance in the face of fear. Las Vegas we're strong. We're strong. We're strong. We'll keep singing our songs…Together."
As his finale words, he wrote, "RIP to those lost."
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