Pat Benatar has said she will no longer perform her hit song 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ out of respect for the families of the victims of mass shootings that have occurred in America this year.

In an interview with USA Today surrounding her current tour, Benatar, 69, said that though the song’s title is "tongue-in-cheek," a line has to be drawn. I'm not doing 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and fans are having a heart attack, and I’m like, I’m sorry, in deference to the victims and families of these mass shootings, I’m not singing it. I tell them, if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it.

“I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t,” she said. I’m not going to go on stage and soap box – I go to my legislators – but that’s my small contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. "Tough.

"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was written by Eddie Schwartz and released by Benatar in 1980. Selling over one million copies, the single was certified gold by the RIAA and marked Benatar’s first top ten release in the US.