Blake Shelton, NBC Plan Benefit For Oklahoma Tornado Victims

Blake Shelton and NBC are partnering up to put together a benefit for Oklahoma tornado victims.

After Tuesday’s episode of The Voice, Shelton — who is an Oklahoma native — told reporters about the upcoming benefit.

“We are actually putting together a fund-raiser right now with NBC. We’ll have more details within the next 24 hours, but definitely something with NBC that is going to happen real fast, and hopefully raise a lot of money,” he said.

Earlier in the night, he also paid tribute to his home state and the people affected by performing an acoustic version of “Over You” with his wife Miranda Lambert. The couple wrote the song as a tribute to Shelton’s brother Richie, who died in 1990 when Shelton was 14.

“‘Over You’ was just the perfect song to fit, and maybe help some people heal and mourn and all those things,” Shelton said.

The 36-year-old Voice judge said he has family in the areas that were the most affected by the tornados on Sunday and Monday.

“I spent three Christmases at my sister’s house in Moore, Oklahoma, and some of those helicopter views of the destruction, you could see her house a quarter of a mile away from there,” Shelton said. “My nieces and nephews would have gone to that school [Plaza Towers Elementary], and when you start putting it in that sort of perspective, and then thinking, ‘Oh my God, I am so glad that they recently moved away from that area.’ And then you go, ‘What about all those people that didn’t?’ It’s hard to put into words, honestly.”

Shelton said the benefit would be held in Oklahoma City. Fellow Voice judge Usher, who has family in the state’s capital, said he would like to be part of the benefit.

Toby Keith, who is a native of Moore, is also planning a benefit for the tornado victims. At least 24 people, including nine schoolchildren, were killed in Moore Monday afternoon. The first victim was identified as 9-year-old Ja’Nae Hornsby.