Kanye West took his weekly Sunday Service gospel event to Dayton, Ohio over the weekend (August 25, 2019) to honor the victims of the city’s recent mass shooting.
Nine people were killed and dozens more injured when a gunman opened fire in the Oregon shopping district on August 4th, and three weeks after the tragedy, the rapper decided to bring a little spiritual aid to the community affected, as part of Dave Chappelle’s Gem City Shine benefit.
“We’ve come to love you and we’ve come to share the love of Jesus Christ with you all today,” West told the crowd at RiverScape Metropark during the 90-minute service, where he was joined by guests like Chappelle, Chris Rock, his wife Kim Kardashian and their kids.
Chappelle took to the stage at one point and told the crowd, “There’s been tornadoes. There’s been shootings. There’s been Klan rallies. But we’re still here. We’re still strong.
“The best way that we can honor our fallen is by getting up better than we were before. We cannot let those people die in vain. They are heroes, they are martyrs.”
The Sunday Service featured a birthday tribute to Chappelle, who turned 46 on Saturday. Kanye led a version of Happy Birthday he dedicated to the comic, but otherwise didn’t perform.
Meanwhile, Kardashian helped publicize the event by tweeting details and adding her husband’s latest gospel gathering was “in support of the victims and survivors of the Dayton mass shooting.”
Fans who attended the event watched and listened as the Sunday Service choir performed Kanye tracks Ultralight Beam and Jesus Walks, as well as renditions of Elton John’s I’m Still Standing.
