Jelly Roll Gets Hero’s Welcome at His Former High School Years After Being Banned: ‘Sweetest Thing’
Back at his old stomping grounds! Jelly Roll returned to his former high school — a place where he was once banned from revisiting — and was welcomed by the staff and students with open arms.
The country singer’s wife, Bunnie Xo, took to TikTok on Tuesday, May 12, to share footage from the outing and the heartwarming story that went along with it. The podcaster, 44, revealed in the video that she received the devastating news of her dad Bill’s death on the way to the event at Antioch High School in Tennessee. However, the warm welcome that she and Jelly, 39, received at the school helped them get through the difficult day.
"They told my husband he would never be allowed back into his high school when he was younger," Bunnie wrote alongside clips of her husband walking the halls, talking to students and faculty and signing merch. At one point, the “Son of a Sinner” hitmaker said, “I can’t believe I’m back at my old high school.”
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“Last week I got to watch him walk the halls again, perform & be welcomed by the kids & teachers," Bunnie continued in the text over the video. "The love and giving back that they showed my husband was the sweetest thing ever to watch."
Other footage in the video showed Jelly being greeted by cheerleaders and a crowd in the gym as he prepared to perform an acoustic set. He even seemingly received a framed Antioch football jersey as a gift.
“Most importantly the smiles on those kids' faces was priceless [sic] & what I truly needed in that moment. Thank you Antioch High School students & staff for the warm hug we needed that day. Go Bears!" Bunnie concluded.
In the caption, she called the day a “blessing in disguise.”
Bunnie revealed her dad’s passing in a tribute on Instagram on May 8.
“Hey Bill, I’m going to miss you. You are still my favorite rock star & my hero. This one’s going to hurt,” she wrote alongside a carousel of photos of her father playing guitar and spending time with his daughter. The final image showed Bunnie and Jelly standing on either side of Bill and giving him kisses on the cheek. “Rest easy & don’t make too many angels fall in love.”
Bill died after a battle with stage 4 cancer, although it was never revealed what form. Bunnie announced her father’s diagnosis in a September 2023 Instagram video.
"I received one of the worst calls yesterday that shook me to my core. My dad has been silently battling Stage 4 cancer for the past year alone w/just his wife," she wrote. "He insisted no one kno so he could try to heal it himself because he's into holistic remedies. Sadly the cancer has now spread into his bone marrow and & his bones are breaking, he can't lift his arms, walk, barely eat & he's in so much pain you can't even hug him."
Bunnie took a break from Jelly's Backroad Baptism tour to visit her father, noting in the video that she wanted to “wrap him up in love and make this process for him as comfortable as possible.”
