James Corden Touchingly Addressed The Orlando Nightclub Shooting At The Tony Awards

Earlier today, The Tony Awards released a statement dedicating tonight’s show to the victims of the mass shooting at Orlando nightclub Pulse on Saturday night. To start the show, James Corden addressed the attack and promised that “hate will never win.” The Broadway community is so enmeshed with the LGBT community that it was a necessary kick off to the show, and as a first time awards show host Corden handled the statement perfectly in a time of mourning and anger.

Everyone is dealing with the events of Saturday night in different ways, and the comments wisely acknowledged many have still not come to terms with the horrific attack. The most affecting piece of the statement was probably the middle section where Corden directly addressed those who don’t know how to respond and are still processing the deaths of 50 people.

All we can say is you are not on your own right now. Your tragedy is our tragedy. Theatre is a place where every race, creed, sexuality, and gender is equal, is embraced, and is loved. Hate will never win.

Everyone has their own threshold for emotional reactions to tributes, memorials, and touching remembrances. For this writer, that statement brought on a few minutes of full on sobs that had not been released all day. The Orlando shooting is one of the worst tragedies this country has ever seen so a message that lets people know they are seen, heard, and loved – especially in the LGBT community and theatre family – is an important thing for many people to hear tonight.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)