Jared Leto Gives a Touching Tribute to Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell at the 2017 MTV VMAs
Jared Leto paid tribute to Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.
It was a night of celebration, but things got a bit more serious when Jared Leto took to the stage. Thirty Seconds to Mars were about to perform on stage, but even with that, their frontman still found some time to pay tribute to two of the biggest rock stars that the world has lost this 2017: Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington.
"In 1976, in Phoenix, Arizona, a child was born. He was precocious, full of life, and determined. He grew up to become the singer of one of the biggest rock bands in the history of music. His name was Chester Bennington," The "Suicide Squad" actor began. "MTV asked me to come here to say a few words about Chester and the late, great, Chris Cornell, two artists I had the absolute pleasure of touring with. They were close friends with one another. Chester even singing the cover of the classic 'Hallelujah' at Chris' funeral," Leto added.
He then went on to reflect the life that Chester Bennington had lived and how it was such a pleasure to have met and worked with the rock icon.
Both Cornell and Bennington had died by suicide, and at the end of the tribute, Leto reached out to the people who may be suffering from depression and he told them to not give up and lose hope before asking the crowd to stand on their feet as a video of Bennington's band, Linkin Park, performing during the 2010 MTV VMAs, is shown on the screen.
Cornell died on May 27, and his body was found with a band around his neck. Coincidentally, Bennington's suicide happened to be at the time of Cornell's birthday, July 20, and it has been long known that the two were great friends.
Following Bennington's death, Linkin Park set up a website dedicated to suicide prevention in the hopes of giving advice to those seeking it.