Making an unannounced appearance after a massacre occurred during his performance at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, Jason Aldean performed during Saturday Night Live's cold open this week. The country singer addressed victims of the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history before performing the late Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down."
A somber Aldean told the audience:
This week, we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in America's history. Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal. So many people are hurting, there are children, parents, brothers, sister, friends, they're all part of our family
So I want to say to them, we hurt for you and we hurt with you. You can be sure we are going to walk through these tough times together every step of the best. When America is at its best, our bond and our spirit, it's unbreakable.
Aldean had been headlining the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on October 1 when Stephen Paddock started to fire onto the crowd from his 32nd floor room at the Mandalay Bay hotel. Fifty-eight people were killed and over 500 were injured in the worst mass shooting modern American history. Paddock, 64, killed himself by the time a SWAT team entered the room; investigators are still looking for a motive.
Video showed Aldean on stage singing until he realized the pop-pop-pop sounds were gunfire, prompting him to flee. He later said, "Something has changed in this country and in this world lately that is scary to see. This world is becoming the kind of place I am afraid to raise my children in."
