ABC/Mark LevineBrad Paisley is raising a glass to a pair of friends who called on a simple and sweet method of bringing people together.
Pittsford, New York friends Benjamin Smith and Marcus Ellis, who are of different races, went viral after posting a photo on social media of themselves sitting in lawn chairs and sharing a beer at the end of their driveway next to home made road side cardboard sign that reads “Black or white, relax and have a beer!”
The photo caught Brad’s attention, who was so moved by their unifying gesture that he surprised them with a Zoom call during a neighborhood block party, in addition to sending several cases of beer for them to share with those who take them up on the offer. He also performed an acoustic version of his single, “No I in Beer.”
“I’m thrilled to meet you face to face like this. I’m so inspired by you and we thought we should deliver more beer than you could possibly drink,” Brad praised in a video posted by ABC TV affiliate WJRT. “I’m trying to hear out my friends in the black community. That’s what you guys are doing, together, the same thing.”
“It means the world and back,” Marcus raves about Brad’s surprise virtual visit.
“I feel like through the rioting and the protests, I kind of felt like I was being torn apart,” Benjamin emotionally adds. “And this is what builds it back up.”
By Cillea Houghton
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