Pat Benatar refuses to perform her 1980 hit “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” in the wake of this year’s horrific mass shootings across America.
Speaking to USA Today, the rock singer said she will be avoiding the song on her current tour out of “protest” against gun violence.
Instead, the 69-year-old singer will play her other classics, including “Love Is A Battlefield” and “We Belong.”
This year alone, the country has been hit by high-profile weapons-related attacks, in places like Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and Highland Park, Illinois.
“We’re not doing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and fans are having a heart attack,” Benatar told the outlet. “And I’m sorry, out of respect for the victims of the families of these mass shootings, I’m not singing it.”
Benatar said that if people want to hear the song, they should just “go home and listen to it.”
She said the song is “tongue in cheek, but you have to draw the line.”
“I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t. I’m not going to the podium and the soapbox — I’m going to my legislators,” she said, adding, “That’s my little contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. Difficult.”
According to Gun Violence Archive, there have been 356 mass shootings in the US alone this year.
On May 14, 10 people were shot and killed in a hate-fueled mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY.
Ten days later, 19 children and two teachers were killed in the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
On July 4, seven people were killed after a gunman allegedly opened fire at the Highland Park parade in Illinois using a “powerful” rifle.