In a new appearance on Mavericks With Ari Melber, Jon Bon Jovi talked about the song called “American Reckoning”, taken from Bon Jovi’s latest album ”2020”.
He said:
“God damn those eight long minutes, Lying face-down in cuffs on the ground, Bystanders pleaded for mercy, As one cop shoved a kid in the crowd,
“I had to take a position on this record. I wanted it to be that I was in your shoes or anyone else who is reporting news, so in essence, I said to myself, ‘I am a witness to history.
“And much like anyone else who had the opportunity to watch the television or read the newspaper, we were all witness to history. In the case of the death of George Floyd, there I was, the audience watching the television, and I was so taken by the moment and the graphic nature of the moment, both visually and the audio recordings.
“And I watched as a police officer pushed back a kid in the crowd, I watched as the time went by and the reporter said, ‘These minutes are very graphic. If it’s too much for you, please turn away.’
“So there I was, witness to history, and the best way for me to express what I saw was through the songs, and ‘American Reckoning’ took shape. I had to be very careful with that song and to get it right.
“I wrote it. I re-wrote it. I played it for a variety of people, people in the African-American community, people in my band, people in my family, other influential songwriters and made sure to get it right because I wanted to pay respects to anyone who also witnessed that history.”
About the song feedback, Jovi replied:
“I don’t read comments on the internet if that’s what you’re asking, I try to avoid that kind of stuff. I know that I wasn’t a part of the cancel culture either, and I gave all of the money for the year from the recording to Bryan Stevenson‘s organization, for all the right reasons.
“I was witness to history, I wrote a song, I didn’t want the money – I didn’t need the money, I gave it away, and that was it. And I got it right.”