Jamie Foxx Addresses XXXTentacion Death And Gun Violence At 2018 BET Awards
Jamie Foxx took a break from telling jokes to share an emotional message on combatting gun violence while paying tribute to XXXTentacion during the “In Memoriam” segment of the 2018 BET Awards Sunday (June 22).
As previously reported, the 20-year-old rapper Florida was gunned down in broad daylight earlier in the week, and his sudden death clearly struck a chord with Foxx. The comedian and host of this year’s awards ceremony pointed out that he was in Las Vegas when Tupac Shakur was gunned down in 1996 at the age of 25. Foxx also revealed that he was in Los Angeles when the Notorious B.I.G., who was only 24, was shot and killed in 1997.
“No matter where you start you got the opportunity to change,” Foxx began. “I think what needs to happen — and at the risk of sounding old — is that we can’t get too used to these type of things. We’re too used to young people being killed, it’s like we don’t even trip anymore. We gotta’ adjust our satellite just a bit. We all have to figure out a way to not become too used to what’s going on right now.”
The Oscar winner also encouraged recording artists to “sneak” positive messages into their music. “It seems senseless,” he said of ongoing examples of gun violence. “I’m not saying that we can stop everything, but we gotta’ figure something out.”
Watch Foxx’s full speech in the video above.
This post Jamie Foxx Addresses XXXTentacion Death And Gun Violence At 2018 BET Awards first appeared on Vibe.
