Madonna Honors Pulse Nightclub Shooting Victims at Miami Celebration Tour Show: 'Don't Forget About It'

The Queen of Pop invited survivors of the 2016 mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub and their families to her Miami concert on April 9

Madonna has long used her platform to uplift the LGBTQ+ community, and at her latest concert, she paid tribute to the victims of the horrific 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

The Queen of Pop invited survivors and loved ones of those killed in the June 2016 shooting to the Miami tour stop of her Celebration Tour at the Kaseya Center on Tuesday, April 9. During the show, the Material Girl, 65, spoke passionately about those affected by the tragedy, which killed 49 innocent people.

"I want to draw attention to that moment because nightclubs and music and dance are what bring us together. They shouldn’t be places or things that we do that bring us sadness and tragedy and murder and death and pain and suffering and trauma. But unfortunately human beings are still stuck in some kind of a rut," said Madonna.

"I will always stand for the gays, always, because the gays have always stood for me," she told the crowd, describing the tragic event as "the worst terror attack since 9/11."

As Madonna addressed the survivors and their families, she began to get choked up and admitted to feeling "emotional" about the moment. "I make dance music. My job is to bring people together, to make people dance, to make people happy, to not judge. This s--- is not supposed to happen. Don’t forget about it," she said.

The "Music" singer then shouted out several survivors and highlighted the shooting's impact on their lives, including lost friends, gunshot injuries and mental health struggles.

"When are we gonna learn? That's a rhetorical question, but I'm telling you we all take part in this — you know why? Because we all judge each other," she continued. "We think we’re so elevated, we think we’ve seen it all, we've done it all, but even I speak evil to other people. Even I judge."

Related: The Best Moments from the Opening Night of Madonna's The Celebration Tour

Madonna added, "We’re all guilty of discrimination in one way or another, therefore we are, on a global level, contributing to these crimes of hate. Therefore, I ask you all to remember your responsibility, and I ask you all to remember you have the ability to shine light in the world and to make a difference."

After she was handed a guitar, the Grammy winner began to cry, as she asked the audience to turn on their phone flashlights.

"Light up this room, so we are all reminded that their lives were not taken in vain, and that we are reminded that every one of us has the ability to shine our own light on each other and share it with the world, share it with our friends, share it with our families, share it with our loved ones, share it with the people we don’t understand, share it with the people we think are our enemies because at the end of the day, we don’t have any f---ing enemies! We are our own enemies. Please remember that," concluded Madonna.

Following the speech, she performed an emotional acoustic cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive."

Related: Madonna's Tour by the Numbers: 4 Kids, 8 Humidifiers, 3 Traveling Gyms and More Surprising Revelations

Throughout The Celebration Tour, Madge has integrated the show with touching tributes — from montages that reflect on those she's lost within her own family, like her mother, to musicians who have died.

During her performance of the 1986 classic "Live to Tell," she specifically takes a moment to reflect upon on people like Keith Haring, Freddie Mercury and many others who died from AIDS.

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While the show thoughtfully addresses various tragedies, it is also as much a celebration of the queer community who have uplifted Madonna's career and inspired her over the years, as it is a career retrospective.

Related: Madonna Shouts Out Her Cousins She Hasn't Seen in Years at the Tampa Stop of the Celebration Tour

The "Hung Up" singer launched her Celebration Tour to acclaim last October at London's O2 Arena. The show, which features a two-hour set, marked the hitmaker's return to the stage following her hospitalization in summer 2023 due to a serious bacterial infection.

Since setting out on the tour, the music legend has garnered attention for the show's spectacle and various surprises. During the "Vogue" portion of the set, she's brought out a myriad of special guests, including FKA Twigs, Kylie Minogue, Pamela Anderson and Julia Garner and Julia Fox, who were both rumored to appear in her long-awaited biopic, which is currently on pause, among many others.

Madonna kicked off the U.S. leg of her tour in late 2023 with several shows in New York City and Washington D.C. in December. In 2024, she got back out on the road to resume the rest of the North American dates, which continue in the States until April 15 before she heads to Mexico City for five shows at the end of the month.

Next month on May 4, the "Like a Prayer" singer will officially say farewell to The Celebration Tour with a massive send-off show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She'll be concluding the tour with a historic, free concert at Copacabana Beach at the Belmond Copacabana Palace Hotel.

The concert is sponsored by Itaú Apresenta and "will be free of charge as a thank you to her fans for celebration more than four decades of her music over the course of the epic global run of the tour," according to a press release.

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