The Teen Choice Awards are not known as one of the more serious ceremonies in Hollywood.
This year’s version, for example was co-hosted by John Cena and Victoria Justice.
It also hands out surfboards instead of trophies and its categories include Choice AnTEENcipated Movie Actor and Choice Female Hottie.
Still, on Sunday evening, the 2016 Teen Choice Awards stopped and took a few moments to go from goofy to emotional.
Joined on stage by the loved ones of victims killed in recent shootings, Jessica Alba told their stories and the stories of the family members these people lost.
“Here with me tonight is a group of brave teenagers who share an unlikely bond that is hard to comprehend. They are the brothers, sisters, daughters and family members of recent victims of gun violence,” the actress said to open her speech.
“I am talking about Aurora, Baton Rouge, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando, San Bernardino, Newtown. It keeps happening, and it has to stop.”
Alba went on to say that each teenager on stage was connected to someone who died via gun violence.
It was tragic stuff to hear.
“J.T. [Lewis] was just like you, until he lost his 6-year-old little brother, Jesse Lewis, one of the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown,” Alba said, adding more names to the list:
“Jolene and Colin wake up every day missing their mother, Bennetta Betbadal, who was one of the 14 people killed in San Bernardino.”
Some critics may say this was an inappropriate platform to use in order to send a political message.
But nearly anyone with a pulse had to be moved by the message anyway.
“Tonight we stand together with these teens, united in our call for peace and an end to this violence,” Alba said. “Now more than ever we need to stop, feel and ask what’s going on.”
From there, Ne-Yo took the stage to perform Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”
As he sang this classic track, photos of gun-violence victims and their families flashed on a screen behind him.
Again, powerful stuff.
“These teens had the courage to come here and share their grief and take a stand,” Alba told the crowd after Ne-Yo performance. “And tonight, Ne-Yo and I and all of us here and all of you watching need to do the same.”
Ne-Yo then asked attendees to come together as one by snapping a picture of the teens on stage and Tweeting it with the hashtag “#StopTheViolence.”
This isn’t the first time this summer that an awards ceremony sent an emotional message in regard to ongoing violence affecting America.
Take a look below at four of the best basketball players on the planet opening the ESPYs by talking about troubled race relations in the country:
