Kelsea Ballerini Pauses Concert After Being Hit in the Eye with a Bracelet: ‘Don’t Throw Things’

At this point, all of the artists who have had flying objects hurled at them from their concert audience need to start a support group. Earlier this week, someone tossed a bag of their mother’s ashes on stage during Pink’s British Summer Time Festival performance. And just over a week before that, Bebe Rexha was hit in the face with a cell phone someone threw because they thought “it would be funny.” Kelsea Ballerini is now the latest artist to be added to the club.

During her performance at Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden, Ballerini was interrupted mid-song when a bracelet hit her directly in the eye. On Thursday morning, she shared that the moment “scared me more than hurt me” and that she was doing fine, but stopped the show to make sure everyone was safe.

“We all have triggers and layers of fears way deeper than what is shown, and that’s why I walked offstage to calm down and make sure myself, band and crew, and the crowd all felt safe to continue,” she wrote on her Instagram story. “That’s all I ever want is for shows to feel like a safe place for us all.”

Throughout Ballerini’s live performances, fans have planned to make loads of friendship bracelets to share and trade at her concerts, similar to what Taylor Swift fans have been doing on the Eras tour.

“I love you and appreciate all of the concern. Let’s make the last two shows of the heartfirst tour the best yet,” she continued, before sharing a screenshot of some commenters who called her “so soft” for reacting to the attack: “A sad, scary world we live in,” Ballerini wrote.

It was definitely smaller than a phone and the giant wheel of cheese that also ended up on Pink’s stage this week. In the clips, the country singer stumbled backward away from the microphone after being hit. A few beats later, she began strumming her guitar again but ultimately ended up retreating backstage.

“I know we all mean well. We all want to show Kelsea love the best way we know how, and shower her with all the gifts. But throwing things on stage where artists are already so vulnerable is NOT the move,” Kelsea Central, an update account for the singer, wrote on Twitter. “What we know at this point is that she is back on stage and okay. But please know that if you do this, you’re the reason why we can’t have caps on our water bottles.”

After going a year without touring due to the pandemic when it was uncertain how or when live music would ever return, if at all, you would think audiences would have developed more of an appreciation for it. Just after the Bebe Rexha incident, a fan rushed onto Ava Max’s stage mid-performance and scratched her in the eye when security attempted to remove them.

Last year, Harry Styles was pelted in the eye with Skittles during one of his shows, and Steve Lacy was criticized for destroying a disposable camera someone threw at him during his performance. Regardless of intention, we need a hard reset on concert etiquette.

This story was updated at 12:50 pm ET to include Ballerini’s Instagram Story statement following the incident.