Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran win big, school violence addressed at Billboard awards

(REUTERS) - Gun violence and last week's Texas school shooting took centre stage at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday night (May 20) in a show that also saw pop star Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran walk away with top honours. The award show host Kelly Clarkson, who was the first winner of 'American Idol,' kicked off the proceedings on a sombre note saying "once again we're grieving for more kids that have died for just absolutely no reason."

"They also wanted me to do a moment of silence and I'm so sick of 'moment of silence,' it's not working ... why don't we not do a moment of silence, why do a moment of action?"  - Kelly Clarkson 

Later, teen singing sensation Shawn Mendes and singer Khalid where joined on stage by the choir from Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school for a performance honouring victims on school shootings. Singer Janet Jackson was honoured with the Billboard "Icon Award" while South Korean boy band BTS and Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello also walked away with awards.