Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Delivers A Powerful Speech From A Bunker To Grammy Awards, Calls For Help
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a powerful speech at the Grammy awards. He appealed for peace, support and help from a bunker.
Remember Sean Penn had threatened to smelt his Oscar awards if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not invited to speak at the Academy?
What Oscars couldn't do, the Grammys did. At the awards ceremony, they played a pre-recorded message from President Volodymyr Zelensky that he recorded in a bunker two days ago and bounced around to several points in order to ensure that no one could trace the origins of the clip.
Zelensky oughta win a Grammy pic.twitter.com/0m5lyawZs1
¡ª Michael (@michael_rf) April 4, 2022
President Volodymyr Zelensky's Grammys Speech
In his powerful message, Zelensky said, "The war. What¡¯s more opposite to music? The silence of ruined cities and killed people".
Reflecting at the plight of Ukrainians, he added, "Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Our 400 children have been injured and 153 children died. Our parents are happy to wake up in the morning in bomb shelters, but alive. Our loved ones don¡¯t know if we will be together again. The war doesn¡¯t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence."
"Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals -- even to those who can't hear them. But the music will break through anyway."
"We defend our freedom to live, to love, to sound"
Here is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's pre-taped speech at the #Grammys, introducing a performance for Ukraine from John Legend: "Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals." https://t.co/rjX2S54hkr pic.twitter.com/43fcZTrjQK
¡ª Variety (@Variety) April 4, 2022
"On our land, we are fighting Russia, which brings horrible silence with its bombs. The dead silence. Fill the silence with your music, fill it today to tell our story."
He also appealed for help and support as he added, "Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV. Support us in any way you can -- any, but not silence. And then peace will come."
"To all our cities the war is destroying -- Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Volnovakha, Mariupol and others: They are legends already, but I have dream of them living, and free. Free like you on the Grammy stage."
Twitter
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's powerful speech, John Legend took the stage and paid a tribute to the war-torn country. He performed with Ukrainian artists. Take a look at his performance below.
A very moving performance in acknowledgement the current #UkraineRussianWar . @ZelenskyyUa opened the intro with a plea for the music artists and all to #StandWithUkraine .@johnlegend peforms with various #Ukrainian artists.
¡ª ArtOnArtsBlog (@ArTallks) April 4, 2022
ThankYou @RecordingAcad #GRAMMYs @cbs ? #Ukraine?? pic.twitter.com/0VCVlddsr9
A night before the Grammys, John Legend said, "I¡¯m proud to celebrate and honor and cultivate our music. Black music is and has been the rhythm, the root, the inspiration, the innovation behind so much of the world¡¯s popular music. It doesn¡¯t exist without us."
"Our art and music can help movements find their footing and voice. Our art and music can help activists, the people closest to injustice and lead the way forward to equality and opportunity," he said.
Also Read: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Lauds Mila Kunis & Ashton Kutcher For Raising $35 Million
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Garima Satija leads the Entertainment vertical of Indiatimes. A storyteller at heart who enjoys the thrill of writing, she is sometimes found daydreaming about living the lives of movie characters. Also, she hates talking about herself in the third person.
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