PHOTOSBrad Paisley Shares CMA Awards' Plans To Honor Las Vegas Shooting Victims
Nov. 7 2017, Updated 7:51 p.m. ET
Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are planning to honor the victims of the Las Vegas shooting at the CMA Awards this Wednesday night. In October, 58 people were killed at the country music Route 91 Harvest Festival, and another 527 were injured. Now, Brad and Carrie are hoping to use the awards show as a platform to help heal and pay tribute to those affected by the tragedy.
“It’s very important to use this show as a vehicle to uplift our community and our industry,” Brad told People magazine. “No one wants an entire show that’s negative or dark; that wouldn’t be doing a service, honestly, to what happened.”
“The best thing we can do is acknowledge it, pay our respects, and then perform this music and use this music for what it’s best at, which is unifying and giving us joy and finding the light here,” Brad continued. “I think that’s really what we want to do.”
Brad said he and Carrie, who are celebrating a decade of co-hosting the annual show, are determined to make people laugh.
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“Humor is an important aspect,” he said. “It may be more important than ever that we make some people laugh this year.”
Following the tragic shooting, several country stars took to social media to speak out against the violence and offer support to the victims. Thomas Rhett, who is performing at Wednesday night’s show, tweeted at the time, “My heart is broken. My love and all my prayers go out to every family and friend who suffered loss, and everyone who was there.”
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