Pat Benatar refuses to sing Hit Me With Your Best Shot after string of mass shootings

Singer Pat Benatar revealed she will no longer play one of her biggest hits, and some fans are not having it.

Pop star Pat Benatar revealed in a recent interview that she refuses to play her song Hit Me With Your Best Shot due to a recent string of mass shootings.
Pop star Pat Benatar revealed in a recent interview that she refuses to play her song Hit Me With Your Best Shot due to a recent string of mass shootings.  © Adam Rountree/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP

In a recent interview with USA Today, the pop icon revealed that she no longer performs the smash hit, much to the dismay of her fans.

"We’re not doing Hit Me With Your Best Shot and fans are having a heart attack, and I’m like, I’m sorry, in deference to the victims of the families of these mass shootings, I’m not singing it," she explained.

"I tell them, if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it."

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The single, released in 1980 and written by Eddie Schwartz, includes the chorus lyrics, "Hit me with your best shot, fire away."

While the song is not at all about gun violence, Benetar says she can't sing the lyrics with a smile anymore, and believes "you have to draw the line."

"I’m not going to go on stage and soapbox – I go to my legislators – but that’s my small contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. Tough."

The US has seen a string of mass shootings in the past weeks, most notably the shooting in Uvalde and the Greenwood Park Mall.

You can catch Pat Benatar currently on tour until September.

Cover photo: Adam Rountree/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP

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