Watch a Livestream of The ‘Celebration of Life’ Memorial Service for DMX
Due to COVID restrictions, only family and close friends will be in attendance.
Fans will be able to watch the first of two livestreamed memorial services for DMX today.
The “Celebration of Life” ceremony is set to begin broadcasting via the late rapper’s Youtube page at 4pm EST. Saturday’s service will take place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where only friends and family will be permitted to attend in accordance with the city’s COVID restrictions. A second “Homegoing Celebration” service is slated for Sunday, April 25th, but has yet to reveal a location. That memorial will be presented by BET and livestreamed at 2 :30pm EST.
Barclays Center was chosen as the venue despite Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano offer of Yonkers Raceway as a prospective host to the memorials. With a capacity of 7,500 people, the horse track is the city’s largest outdoor venue. However, in order to meet the state’s health and safety guidelines, only 20% of the venue’s capacity would be allowed to attend. By comparison, though it’s not outdoors, the maximum capacity at Barclays is 19,000. And even with the state’s requirement of capping attendance at 10% of capacity for indoor events, it would be able to accommodate a few hundred more guests, which was likely the thought behind its selections as host to at least one of this weekend’s services. It’s also the site of one of his last performances, joining Snoop Dogg, The Lox, MOP, Cam’ron, and more, for the Masters of Ceremony show in 2019.
The family of DMX, born Earl Simmons, announced the rapper’s death in a statement on April 9th, 2021. “Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with all of his heart and we cherish the times we spent with him,” the Simmons family wrote.
Watch the livestream of the Celebration of Life service for DMX below.
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