Kane Brown took to social media last night, opening up about his feelings following both the killing of Kirk and a school shooting that took place that same day in Colorado.
In a series of posts on his Instagram page and Stories, Brown first posted a photo of a news report about the school shooting that took place at a high school in Colorado, accompanied by a broken heart emoji. Brown then posted a photo of Kirk and his family, also accompanied by a broken heart emoji.
Brown also posted a longer video, offering up a plea, saying, “I’m gettin’ mad, man, ’cause I don’t know what to say. I’m very uneducated on this stuff. At the end of the day, all I want is everybody to love each other. That’s really all I want. Left side, right side, Black, white, different languages speaking, different country living, just love each other. If you see somebody down, please pick them up. I’ve been crying [for] two hours. This is the first video, now I’m just gettin’ mad, because somethin’s telling me that I have to post this video. I don’t talk about this s–t. I don’t do politics. That’s not for me. I just want y’all to love each other. It’s really not that hard. I get it, some people can say some pretty messed up stuff, especially with the internet these days… just love each other. Help each other out.”
Subsequently, Brown was attacked by commenters on both political sides for his comments. The singer-songwriter posted a video on his Instagram Stories soon after, saying, “Guys, I apologize if I offended anybody. This is really not me picking sides. This is just a ‘f–ked-up world’ post, to be honest. We all need to do better. There was a school shooting, there’s been thousands of school shootings. I want to pray to those families as well. I want to pray to Charlie’s family. I want to pray to anybody out there who’s had a family member’s life taken by someone who wanted to hurt them, or them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t understand why it has to happen. I don’t understand why war has to happen. That’s all this post is, that we just live in a f–ked-up world.”
On that Instagram Stories series, he also noted, “I need y’all to see these are from both sides. We are the problem.” He also shared messages from some of the commenters on both sides, including one who asked, “Why didn’t you post about the Democratic representatives being murdered?!!!!,” presumably referring to the killings of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman as well as her husband Mark Hortman in June. Brown posted in another Instagram Stories message, “I don’t see why y’all look at each other in such a hateful way.” He also responded to another commenter who accused him of “offending your ancestors” as a biracial man. Brown responded by saying he’s been called racial slurs his whole life. “I don’t want those people dead,” Brown said. He also added a broken heart emoji and noted, “My last post for a while be safe guys and love one another.”