Country singer Ella Langley canceled a concert last Saturday night at United Supermarkets Arena in Texas after safety concerns arose, and she’s standing firmly behind the call despite facing backlash from some fans.
“I was put in charge of a decision for 15,000 people and I decided to make the decision that I could live with the rest of my life,” Langley, 27, told the crowd that night, according to Taste of Country.
She made clear the decision wasn’t made lightly, but that she had no regrets about it.
“Because when it comes to keeping you safe and making sure that this show is a safe place for us to come and enjoy our music, then it will happen. But the second, it feels like it’s not, I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it because a concert’s not worth a human life. It’s not,” Langley said.
“And so I would have made yesterday’s decision ten billion times over,” she added. “And I’d do it tomorrow and I’d do it the next day.”
Support from a Country Music Hall of Famer
Langley’s handling of the situation drew praise from Country Music Hall of Famer Wynonna Judd, who addressed the cancellation during a recent appearance on OutKick’s “Tomi Lahren Is Fearless.”
Judd, 62, said she’s had her own experience with threats on tour, including having the FBI involved at times, and needing protection while on the road.
“It just happens. S— happens, right? So, you got to do what what’s the next right thing. And I think she did the right thing,” Judd said.
The two also touched on criticism Langley has faced online over old hunting photos and other personal matters unrelated to her music.
“Welcome to the internet, my friend,” Judd quipped, before expressing frustration that attention often lands on controversy rather than artistry.
“I see it and I go, ‘Oh my god, what about the music? Let’s get back to the music. Please, dear God in heaven, can we please talk about their gift? Can we talk about the fact that they just won an award or beat out so and so in the record sales and celebrate that?’ Because each person gets time,” Judd said.
Lessons from her mother
Judd credited her late mother, Naomi Judd, with teaching her to stay grounded through fame’s highs and lows.
“Mom was really good at that. She was very good at saying, ‘Let’s celebrate tonight that we won five Grammys, but then we go to work the next day.’ She was very practical about that and she loved every minute of it. But she was always thankful and always mindful of how blessed we are. And each person gets their time. That’s the way,” Judd said.
Judd, a five-time Grammy winner herself, said she still watches the Grammy Awards each year but has largely stopped following other award shows, which she says no longer feel personal to her.
“I don’t watch them because there’s no Dolly and there’s no George Strait, and I grew up with them and they’re so personal and family to me that I miss having the elders there. I remember sitting with Johnny Cash. I remember being with Reba. I remember going backstage and seeing Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and George Jones. Those were some of the happiest times of my life,” Judd said.
“And they’re not there anymore and I just feel like it’s different in a way that I don’t know if they invited me I’d go,” she added.
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