Jelly Roll was featured in a charity TV commercial that aired on Fox on Thursday, after it was announced that he was quitting social media over fat trolls.
The country singer-rapper, 39, spoke about the importance of “eradicating veteran homelessness” through the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
“We’re talking about the people who put their lives on the line for this great country. The people who lost and paid the ultimate price for our freedom,” he said.
“Those are the real heroes man, I’m just a fat guy with a guitar.”
Jelly Roll was featured in a charity TV commercial that aired on Fox on Thursday, after it was announced that he was quitting social media over fat trolls
The country singer-rapper, 39, spoke about the importance of “eradicating veteran homelessness” via the Tunnel to Towers Foundation
Jelly (born Jason Bradley DeFord) then asked people to donate $11 a month to the foundation.
“Proving a safe and dignified home is a safe and necessary part of helping veterans experiencing homelessness reclaim their lives,” he added.
The advert’s airing, which was first released in February, made for a welcome TV sighting for the music star after recent bullying pushed him off social media.
On Monday, the Son of a Sinner singer was spotted working up a sweat at a Los Angeles gym.
He grabbed a refreshing smoothie with a friend after an intense workout session at an Equinox location, in the midst of his goal to lose hundreds of pounds.
During his post-gym run, he was covered in a baggy black hoodie and dark athletic pants.
He carried his smoothie in one hand and cradled a water bottle on the same arm as he chatted with a male friend who had joined him.
The country star’s gym session is part of a new workout regimen he has committed to, which has already seen him lose an incredible 30 pounds.
News of his recent health kick comes after his wife, Bunnie XO, revealed on her Dumb Blonde podcast that he had distanced himself from most of his social media after online users ‘bullied’ him about his weight.
“It hurts him,” the 44-year-old YouTuber said somberly in a clip from an episode released Wednesday.
“My husband quit the internet because he’s so sick of being bullied because of his damn weight, and it makes me cry because he’s the sweetest angel baby,” Bunnie admitted. ‘My husband won’t show it to you, but I’m going to experience a very vulnerable moment here. It hurts him.’
She urged her listeners not to treat Jelly as just an anonymous celebrity.
‘The internet can say whatever they want about you and they say, ‘You’re a celebrity. You should be able to handle it.’ No, we’re not,” she added vehemently. ‘Enough is enough.’
On Monday, the Son of a Sinner singer was spotted working up a sweat at a Los Angeles gym after vowing to lose weight for the upcoming 5K in May
His wife, Bunnie
She then urged his listeners to never “bully” others, “because you never know where they are mentally.”
“There are a lot of people who are not as strong as me who are on the internet, and they don’t deserve to be bullied,” she emphasized.
The platinum blonde added that she was “sticking up for all the damn underdogs.”
‘You’re never going to bully me. You will never lie about me or my family, and I will fight to the end,” she concluded fiercely.
Although Bunnie said that Jelly has “disappeared from the internet” due to the cyberbullying, he appears to still have an Instagram page active, although it may be run by his label or management, rather than himself.
In January, Jelly committed to competing in the 2 Bears 5K at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on May 7 with Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura.
“I probably lost 70 pounds,” Jelly said People. “I really kicked a** man.”
The Antioch, Tennessee resident said: ‘I do two to three miles a day, four to six days a week. I spend 20 to 30 minutes in the sauna every day, and six minutes in a cold plunge.”
He also said he has changed his diet and is “eating healthy now.”
While the Save Me star is thrilled with how good the early results of his new health journey feel, he’s far from done with his body and mind makeover.
“I feel very good,” he said, and then went on to discuss the immediate future. “I thought, I’m planning on losing another hundred, a hundred and then some [pounds]. If I feel this good at this weight, man, I can only imagine how I’m going to feel by the time I go on tour.”
The tattooed crooner revealed that he was given the name Jelly Roll by his mother when he was a young, “chubby kid.”
The rapper turned country singer spent nearly a decade in prison until his first child was born in 2008.
According to Readers DigestDuring his teens and early twenties, Jelly was in and out of prison for numerous minor crimes.
According to Everything Nashhe also spent time in prison for aggravated robbery and drug possession with intent to supply.
The tattooed crooner revealed that he was given the name Jelly Roll by his mother when he was a young, “chubby kid,” and that it stuck
They married on August 31, 2016 in Las Vegas, the same day the singer got down on one knee
Jelly (pictured in February) said he has lost 30kg since he started his health journey (left). Jelly Roll is pictured in 2016 in New York City (right)
The former convict left his life of crime for a career in music and has been releasing a wide variety of music for over a decade.
Although Jelly has written, recorded and performed rap, rock and more, he made his mark with his own version of country music.
His debut album Year Round was released on April 19, 2011 through the Hypnotize Minds label.
Jelly and Bunnie met on Fremont Street in Las Vegas at the Country Saloon in 2015, when Bunnie was a high-end escort while Jelly Roll was broke and living in a van.
They married on August 31, 2016 in Las Vegas, the same day the singer got down on one knee.
Jelly proposed to Bunnie on stage at a Yelawolf/Deftones concert, with the couple heading straight to the courthouse where they were married that evening.
The star has two children from a previous relationship: daughter Bailee Ann DeFord, born on May 22, 2008, and son Noah Buddy DeFord, born in August 2016.
According to him, his son’s mother is called Melissa Taste of the country.
At the time Bailee Ann was born, her father Jelly Roll was in prison, but he vowed to change his life for his daughter.
The Son of a Sinner singer previously revealed: ‘I was locked up when a guard knocked on my cell door and delivered the news that my daughter had been born.’
Bailee Ann’s mother is Jelly Roll’s ex Felicia, a former drug addict who has also been in and out of prison.
Bunnie helped Jelly get custody of Bailee Ann in 2016, and the pair have been raising her together ever since.