Bring on the Kleenex!
Katy Perry couldn’t stop crying when she walked on stage and surprised Tony Marrero, a Pulse nightclub shooting survivor. And neither could he.
Marrero was telling Ellen DeGeneres on her show Thursday that Perry’s music, specifically “Rise,” kept him going during his darkest moments. DeGeneres asked him, “Have you met Katy yet? Would you like to meet her?”
That’s when Marrero turned to see Perry walking towards him with open arms.
After a long tearful embrace, Marrero told Perry: “I just want to say thank you for everything you do. Your lyrics to that song helped me from the day I was in the hospital all the way to now. Thank you.”
“Life isn’t easy and you need little reliefs, through songs possibly,” Perry said. “I’m happy to be a joy, I’m happy to be a light, I’m happy I could be there in my own little way to help you.”
As if it couldn’t get any better, Perry told Marrero she knew his dream was to go to film school and said she “personally” wanted to pay for his first year’s tuition.
The June shooting took the lives of 49 people and injured 53, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.