As the news erupted that George Zimmerman had been acquitted in the Trayvon Martin trial Saturday, Beyoncé chose to reflect on the verdict with a moment of silence.
The 31-year-old singer was performing in Nashville, Tennessee, that night as part of her “Mrs. Carter” world tour. According to reports, Beyoncé’s show began roughly 30 minutes after the not guilty verdict came in, and she asked the concertgoers to join her in quiet reflection on the life of Trayvon Martin, the African-American teen Zimmerman said he shot in self-defense in February 2012.
Following the moment of silence, Bey performed “I Will Always Love You,” before segueing into her own hit single, “Halo.”
The singer is one of several celebrities who’ve shared their thoughts on the verdict, expressing emotions ranging from anger to sorrow.
Music mogul Russell Simmons tweeted “Prayers for the Martin family. … Only God knows what was on Zimmerman mind but the gun laws and stand your ground laws must change” while actress Mia Farrow tweeted “I don’t understand this. At ALL.”
“May God console the Martins at this time; as well as every other family that’s gone through this type of injustice,” Nicki Minaj tweeted. “And our taxes paid for that trial. We just paid to see a murderer walk free after killing an innocent unarmed little boy. #GodBlessAmerica”
“I feel sick,” actress Olivia Wilde said after the verdict news. “This has to be a call to action. We must participate in the political process and demand the justice system we ALL deserve.”
Questlove reflected heavily on Twitter Saturday night, saying that he wanted “to rant, but its like 1) i’m preaching to choir 2) this is about trayvon’s parents not my anger 3) wont we just forget on sunday morn? i need healing. i wanna be responsible & a model example but there’s this voice in my head laughing like “pssh told you that you aint s***. … psssh i got nothin to say. im friggin crying. internalizing all this on some cube/dre ‘hear’s what they think about u’ ish.”
To see what other celebrities had to say of the case, click here: CNN.com
Article Courtesy of CNN
Picture Courtesy of Getty Images and CNN
