Jelly Roll emotionally testifies before Congress about the fentanyl crisis
Jelly roll wants to do its part to stop the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
“I've attended more funerals than I care to share with you,” the 39-year-old country singer said during his speech on Thursday, January 11. testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee when he expressed support for the bipartisan Fend Off Fentanyl Act. “With this committee, I could sit here for days and cry over the coffins I carried of people I loved deeply, deep in my soul.”
Jelly Roll explained that he had to say goodbye to “good people” who were more than just “drug addicts,” noting that they were “uncles, friends, cousins and normal people.” The musician said he didn't appear on Capitol Hill to “defend the use of illegal drugs” and understood it was a bit of a “paradox” for him to speak on the issue because of his “history as a drug dealer.”
“I think that makes me perfect to talk about this. I was part of the problem,” he said. “I stand here now as a man who wants to be part of the solution. I have brought down my community. I've hurt people. I was the uneducated guy in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about, just like these drug dealers are doing now when they mix every drug on the market with fentanyl and they kill the people we love.
Jelly Roll may consider himself the son of a sinner, but he has found an angel in his wife Bunnie XO. After two prison sentences – Jelly Roll (real name Jason Bradley DeFord) was arrested for aggravated robbery at age 16 and served a year before being locked up for drug trafficking at age 23 – […]
Jelly Roll shared that his desire to fight the issue is personal to him as his crisis has spread to his own family.
“Now I have a 15-year-old daughter whose mother is a drug addict. Every day I get to look into the eyes of a victim in my household and see the effects of drugs,” he reflected. “Every day I have to wonder if today will be the day I have to tell my daughter that her mother has become part of the national statistic.”
The Grammy nominee is the father of daughter Bailee and son Noah from previous relationships. In 2016 he married his current wife, Bunnie XO. While Jelly Roll knows what it's like when someone you care about struggles with addiction, he also knows that the crisis has affected his supporters.
“At every concert I perform, I witness the heartbreaking impact of fentanyl. Fans, who are struggling with this tragedy in their families, are seeking solace in music and hoping that their experiences will not happen to others,” he said. “They crave reassurance – that their elected representatives value their lives and the lives of their lost loved ones over political agendas. My call to this committee, and to all members of the House and Senate, is to provide this hope.”
Jelly Roll drew from his past struggles as inspiration for his music, which has since made him a breakout star in the country music world.
“I have made a lot of peace with my past. I mean, it still haunts me like the ghosts I know, but I'm not thinking about not doing drugs today,” he said in a December 2023 interview with People. “As for today, I don't know how tomorrow will go, but I can tell you that I am happy today and now.”