Backing up Ella Langley.
A little over a week ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ella made the decision to cancel her show at the BOK Center due to what was described as “a serious security threat.”
According to local Tulsa news outlet KOTV, there was a “false bomb threat call,” which was information provided by Tulsa police, and officers told the outlet they “conducted a preliminary sweep with K-9 officers and found no indication of a threat.” They also said “did not advise the BOK Center or the artist’s team to cancel the concert,” though clearly Ella felt it was necessary.
Ella shared the news in a post Instagram that she was very, very sorry for having to do this, noting that she knows “much time, travel, money, and planning goes into coming to a show.” We all know it takes a lot, so I’m sure fans will understandably be disappointed, but safety always comes first.
She added that the decision was not made lightly, and of course, there was a lot of input from local authorities as well as her own personal security team.
It absolutely sucks to have a concert canceled like this so close to the time it was slated to start, especially for fans who traveled and paid for flights, hotels, and things of that nature, safety is the top priority.
And the night following the cancelation, Ella headlined the United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas, where she addressed the cancelation why she made the decision. She took full responsibility for making the call to cancel the show, saying she made “the decision that I could live with for the rest of my life.”
She added that a “concert is not worth a human life,” and she would have “made yesterday’s decision 10 billion times over”:
“I was put in charge of a decision for 15,000 people. And I decided to make the decision that I could live with for the rest of my life. And so that’s what I did. That’s what I did, because when it comes to keeping you safe and making sure that this show is a safe place for us to come and enjoy 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 is not worth a human life. It’s not. And so I would have made yesterday’s decision 10 billion times over, I would have, and I’d do it tomorrow, and I’d do it the next day. Because while I’m grateful to get to do what I do, it’s not the most important thing in this life.”
She went on to talk about her faith, and how Jesus was the only reason she didn’t cancel last night’s show too, because she refuses to live in fear and she’s not going to let anyone scare her out of it:
“What’s the most important thing in this life is the people around you that love you, and that are there for you no matter what. The most important thing in this life is making sure that you wake up every day and feel like, you know what, I’m good today. I am good today, and I’m so grateful to have woken up today. The most important thing in this life, number one, is your relationship with Jesus Christ.
That is the most important thing in this life. Number one. And if it wasn’t for him, if it wasn’t for him, I would have canceled this show tonight. I would have. But I felt this calling and this tug at my chest that says, it’s okay, we are safe, and we can do this show, and I decided to because of him right there. And that’s the only reason. Because like I said earlier tonight, every time I see ‘Do not fear’ in the Bible, I underline it. Every single time.
And I’m not gonna live in fear. We are going to put on music and get to do this for the rest of our lives, and I know that, I know that, because this is my calling. This is the thing that I was called to do, and I’m going to continue doing it and nobody is going to talk me out of it or scare me out of it. No.”
Of course, safety is the top priority at these events, and I would never want to be in Ella’s position in terms of having to make that kind of call, especially knowing how many fans would be disappointed about into going to the concert after putting
And during a recent interview on Outkick’s Tomi Lahren is Fearless, Wynonna Judd talked about her very personal new album The Hard Truth, and she was asked about Ella’s recent cancellation, to which she said that “s*** happens.”
Wynonna added that sometimes, things are just out of your control, and she believes Ella made the right decision:
“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.”
Coming from a seasoned pro like Wynonna, that holds a lot of weight, and she revealed that she’s had the FBI around at times when she was on the road dealing with threats, having been in situations where she needed protection for serious threats, so she can understand what Ella is going through.
Lahren also brought up how Langley has received criticism for some of her old hunting pictures, among other things, and Wynonna had a very simple response:
“Welcome to the internet, my friend.”
The backlash Ella’s gotten for that is insane, and of course Wynonna is no stranger to criticism, and she says wishes people could focus on Ella’s talent and not all of that other stuff… if only.
Like a lot of us, she want sit to be about the music and her talent:
“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.”
Wouldn’t that be nice…
Wynonna has had an incredible career, she’s certainly dealt with her fair share of challenges and things of that nature, and she explained that her late mother, Naomi, helped keep her grounded and focus on what matters, rather than the other crap that the media, and now people online, tend to focus on:
“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.”
Wynonna has so much experience and wisdom, and I think Ella can have peace about the situation knowing that Wynonna, one of country music’s greatest legends, says she made the right call in a very, very stressful situation.
The full episode is available below.
