“I’m very emotional about this,” singer said at show attended by survivors and family members of the 2016 mass shooting. “This shit is not supposed to happen. Don’t forget about it”
Madonna remembered the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting Tuesday at the singer’s concert in Miami, a gig attended by many survivors of the deadly massacre at the Orlando LGBTQ+ nightclub.
Madonna herself invited the survivors of the Pulse shooting as well as family members of those killed in the June 12, 2016 mass shooting that left 49 people dead and injured over 50 more.
“I want to draw attention to that moment because nightclubs and music and dance are what bring us together,” Madonna told the crowd. “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.”
Madonna, who called the Pulse shooting “the biggest terrorist attack on America after 9/11,” then pointed out the survivors and family members in the crowd.
“I will always stand for the gays, always, because the gays have always stood for me,” she continued. “I’m very emotional about this. I make dance music. My job is to bring people together, to make people dance, to make people happy, to not judge. This shit is not supposed to happen. Don’t forget about it.”
Tuesday’s concert was The Celebration Tour’s third and final concert in Miami; the trek will next move to Austin, Texas and Mexico City before concluding with a record-setting free show on May 4 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.