'Dancing With the Stars' and 'The Voice' Pay Respects to Oklahoma City Tornado Victims
ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and NBC's "The Voice" both honored the victims of the Oklahoma City tornado last night on their Monday night broadcasts.
On DWTS, co-host Tom Bergeron requested that the audience not applaud coming back from a commercial break during season 16's final performance show.
"Here's why," Bergeron said, looking like he was on the verge of tears. "We're a live show, and as such, occasionally we go to air in the shadow of tragic events. That happened April 15, when we went to air hours after the Boston bombing. And it's happened again today. While we're having a celebration here [in the ballroom], we want you to know our thoughts are with everyone who's been affected by the devastating tornado in Oklahoma City," he explained.
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After asking for a moment of silence for the tornado victims, Bergeron asked the audience to applaud the first responders on site in Oklahoma City.
Over on NBC's "The Voice," the Oklahoma City tornado victirms were also on everyone's mind. Voice host Carson Daly offered a shout out of support to all of those affected by the tragedy and coach Blake Shelton – an Oklahoma native – said that while his family is safe, the violent storm made it hard to focus on the competition.
"They're going through hell there, right now," he said. "When we went live here, [I] finally had to set my phone down. The bad news keeps coming in. A lot of fatalities. Lot of children and it makes it hard to actually sit here and do this tonight."
But Shelton said the show must go on. "But, got a job to do and [the] team's counting on me, so here I am," he said.
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And it wasn't just the judges and coaches that were affected by last night's tragic news. Country artists The Swon Brothers (pictured above) are Oklahoma natives and even though the sibling duo delivered a pitch-perfect harmomy on the Randy Houser hit "How Country Feels," the brothers said they had a hard time focusing on competition during such a difficult day.
"It is hard to enjoy a night like this when that stuff is going on. It lets you know what is important in life " said Colton Swon. "Our hearts are definitely going out to you, first and foremost," his brother Zach Swon added.
Later, backstage, Colton had more words for his home state.
"Oklahoma is a very strong state and sadly they've been through this before, but I know they're gonna get back on their feet. It's a praying state too, so that makes a world of difference in our eyes," he said
Throughout NBC's broadcast of "The Voice," viewers were given information on how they could contribute to the Red Cross.
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