This article was last updated on April 3, 2023
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Kelsea Ballerini honors Nashville shooting victims
During the 2023 CMT Music Awards held in Austin, Texas, country singer Kelsea Ballerini began the show with an emotional tribute to the victims of a recent school shooting in Nashville and shared her own experience with gun violence. Ballerini, who co-hosted the awards show with Kane Brown, dedicated the broadcast to all those impacted by gun violence, including the families, friends, survivors, witnesses, and responders.
Later in the show, Ballerini performed her hit single “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” with four alumni of RuPaul’s Drag Race, including Kennedy Davenport, Jan, Manila Luzon, and Olivia Lux. The performance was a fun and campy moment that celebrated love, self-expression, and performance.
The CMT Awards also saw country superstar Shania Twain use her acceptance speech for the special Equal Play Award to call for diversity in the country music industry and demand an equal workspace for all talent. Twain promised to champion country artists who are not currently given equal play, regardless of their gender, age, or race. She also gave a shout-out to rising country artists who will be joining her on tour, including Black artists Mickey Guyton and Breland and openly gay artist Lily Rose.
The awards show featured other performance highlights, including Wynonna Judd and Ashley McBryde dueting on a cover of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” and an all-star tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
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