About 200 pop stars, music icons and music executives supported the open letter to Congress of Billboard Magazine calling for action on gun control, after the horrific massive killing of 49 people at the Pulse gay bar in Orlando, Florida.
Said letter was posted on Thursday wherein musicians from every generation expressed their support through their signatures including DJs Diplo and Calvin Harris, teen idols Nick Jonas and Selena Gomez, music icons Barbara Streisand and Paul McCartney, pop stars Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Alicia Keys, broadway star in-Manuel Miranda and even TV personalities like Ellen DeGeneres and James Corden.
“As leading artists and executives in the music industry, we are adding our voices to the chorus of Americans demanding change,” the letter said, which will be the cover of the Billboard Magazine's July 2 issue. “Music always has been celebrated communally, on dance floors and at concert halls. But this life-affirming ritual, like so many other daily experiences — going to school or church or work — now is threatened, because of gun violence in this country.”
The statement calls the Congress to require background checks on all gun sales and to block suspected terrorists from buying guns with the goal to stop violence in America.
Said campaign was agreed by the magazine's editors two days after the Orlando night club shooting which is the worst mass shooting recorded in the history of US, following the heartbreaking murder of The Voice singer, Christina Grimmie, who died of gunshot while she was signing autographs after her Orlando concert.
Aside from that, the massive terror attack at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris also made the music world feel that a realm for celebration and artistry is being endangered especially that music venues are becoming a soft target for violence and terrorist attacks since a huge number of people are gathered for such events.
“But we wanted to dedicate our efforts and resources to do something more proactive. ... We have an ability to shine a light on this topic, but also have legitimacy in the industry to give a united platform to all these artists,” said Billboard deputy editor Isabel Gonzalez-Whitaker.
Billboard collaborates with gun-violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety to promote the campaign, and a letter to Congress was already sent. The millions of social media followers of the artists who signed the letter will make an influential voice for the gun violence debate wherein fans are tweeting with the hastag #disarmhate, Miami Herald reported.