Jared Leto took the stage at the 2015 American Music Awards to introduce Celine Dion's performance of Edith Piaf's "Hymne à l'Amour" in honor of Paris, but he also used his time to ask for peace.
Leto told the crowd that his band, Thirty Seconds To Mars, made sure to stop in the city on their last tour, playing an impromptu show at a classic venue. That venue? The Bataclan, the site where at least 80 people lost their lives seven months after Leto and his band played the city — some of whom Leto said he knew personally.
Leto paraphrased an open letter written by Antoine Leiris, a man who lost his wife in the attacks at Bataclan: "So no, I will not give you the satisfaction of hating you. You want it, but to respond to hatred with anger would be to give in to the same ignorance that made you what you are." Leto made it clear he was there to honor those who lost their lives from senseless violence.
“France matters, Russia matters, Syria matters, Mali matters, the Middle East matters, the United States matters, the entire world matters,” Leto said. “And peace is possible.”
Watch Leto's complete speech, below.
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