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The June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, touched a raw nerve for comedians Joel Creasey and Chrissie Swan.
49 people were killed and 53 injured when lone gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse Nightclub, a hotspot popular with the young LGBT community. The FBI are still investigating the crime.
Creasey, 25, and Swan, 42, became close friends during their time on the first season of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here were discussing the tragedy when Swan made a shock assertion.
“I told Joel that if it had happened in a really busy gay bar in Melbourne he would have probably been in there,” she told the Herald Sun. “It just felt like it could have been us, so we had to do something.”
Creasey, 25, whose snarky, wise-cracking persona has made him a comedy favourite, has enlisted the help of fellow Melbourne stars to raise funds for the Equality Florida’s Pulse Victims’ Fund.
Gold Logie winner Carrie Bickmore, Peter Helliar and Magda Szubanski will headline the ‘Stand Up 4 Orlando’ variety gala next month, which sold out within two hours of going on sale.
“The sad truth is people move on,” said Creasey, “so it’s nice we’ll be raising awareness into July.”
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