--- --- # Katy Perry Tearfully Surprises Orlando Shooting Survivor on _Ellen_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 8, 2016 9:09 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 8, 2016 9:09 PM UTC [Orlando shooting survivor](http://time.com/4481412/orlando-shooting-pulse-nightclub-discharged-hospital/) Tony Marrero came onto Thursday’s episode of [_The Ellen Degeneres Show_](http://time.com/4481976/ellen-aly-raisman-video/) expecting to share the story of his inspiring recovery, but little did he know that he would also be meeting one of his idols: [Katy Perry](http://time.com/4480064/burning-man-katy-perry-paris-hilton/). After Marrero — who was shot four times inside [Pulse nightclub](http://time.com/4370966/orlando-shooting/) — revealed that he had been listening to Perry’s song “Rise” to keep himself motivated since the June attack, DeGeneres invited the _Prism_ artist to join them on stage. Perry and Marrero tearfully embraced before sitting down for an emotional chat that concluded with her offering to pay the tuition for his first year of film school. “I heard that you’re creative — just like me — and you have dreams and you want to go out there and do good and fulfill them,” she said. “And I heard that you want to go to film school, so I personally want to pay for your first year at film school.” Watch the full video below. \[h/t [Uproxx](http://uproxx.com/music/katy-perry-ellen-pays-college-for-orlando-survivor/)\] Katy Perry Surprises Orlando Shooting Victim on Ellen ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4484503/katy-perry-surprises-orlando-shooting-survivor-ellen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4484503/katy-perry-surprises-orlando-shooting-survivor-ellen/"},"headline":"Katy Perry Tearfully Surprises Orlando Shooting Survivor on Ellen","datePublished":"2016-09-08T21:09:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:20.844Z","description":"And offers to pay for his first year of film school","url":"https://time.com/4484503/katy-perry-surprises-orlando-shooting-survivor-ellen/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Katy Perry","Ellen Degeneres","TV","The Ellen Show","The Ellen Degeneres Show","Orlando Shooting","orlando nightclub shooting"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4484503/katy-perry-surprises-orlando-shooting-survivor-ellen/","name":"Katy Perry Tearfully Surprises Orlando Shooting Survivor on Ellen"}}]}] ```