Madonna had tears in her eyes as she delivered a heartfelt speech on the Paris terrorist attacks on Saturday during her "Rebel Heart" tour in Stockholm, Sweden, asking the crowd to observe a moment of silence for the victims of Friday's massacre.
"It's been very hard for me to get through this show up to this point and not forget about what happened last night," Madonna said, as her voice overcame with emotion, according to Entertainment Tonight. "I need to take this moment to acknowledge the tragedy, the tragic killings, assassinations and the senseless endings of precious life that occurred last night in Paris."
"It's been really hard actually to get through the show, because in many ways, I feel torn. Like, why am I up here dancing and having fun when people are crying over the loss of their loved ones? However, that is exactly what these people want us to do. They want to shut us up. They want to silence us. And we won't let them," the 57-year-old popstar said, as the crowd roared with cheer and applause, according to Rolling Stone.
"There are people who have no respect for human life, and there are people that do atrocious, degrading and unforgivable things to human beings," said a teary-eyed Madonna.
"But we will never, ever, ever change this world that we live in if we do not change ourselves. If we do not change the way we treat one another on a daily basis. The way we change the world is not to elect another president, not to kill a hundred more people. The way we change the world is that we change the way we treat one another on a daily basis, in the simplest ways. We must start treating every human being with dignity and respect, and this is the only thing that will change the world," she added.
The "Material Girl" singer then asked concertgoers to observe a minute of silence for the hundreds killed in Friday's attacks in the French capital before performing an acoustic rendition of "Like a Prayer."
"So, here's what I know how to do, and I hope you will all join me, and we will all sing this prayer together," she said to the audience, reaching out to the crowd for a tissue to wipe her tears.
Watch Madonna's full speech and acoustic performance of "Like a Prayer" below:
