Kelsea Ballerini is the latest artist to fall victim to concertgoers flinging objects on stage
Kelsea Ballerini seen in June 2022 in Nashville
By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN
(CNN) — Kelsea Ballerini can now be added to the list of artists to fall victim to unruly concertgoers flinging objects on stage during a show, following a string of similar recent incidents.
The country artist was struck in the face by an object that was thrown at her on Wednesday during a performance in Idaho, as seen in social media videos.
The footage posted by concertgoers on Wednesday evening showed Ballerini flinching mid-song when the flung object hit her in the head. She subsequently paused the song and stepped offstage.
“I’m fine,” the singer said Thursday in a statement posted to her Instagram Stories, adding, “someone threw a bracelet, hit me in the eye, and it more so just scared me than hurt me.”
Ballerini continued, “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.”
On Thursday morning, Ballerini also posted photos from the concert to her Instagram page, urging her followers in the caption to “do a better job of keeping each other safe at shows.”
The incident is an all-too-familiar scene in recent weeks, as the number of artists either being injured or receiving odd items while performing on stage has grown, as seen in videos posted to social media by concertgoers.
On June 19, singer Bebe Rexha was rushed off stage at her concert in New York City when someone threw a cell phone that hit her in the head. She updated her fans on her Instagram page the next day saying, “I’m good,” and posted closeup photos of the injury she suffered to her eye.
A man in attendance at the show was reportedly arrested and charged with felony assault for using his cell phone as a weapon.
Just one day after Rexha was injured on stage, a man breached the stage at singer Ava Max’s concert in Los Angeles. Concertgoers posted videos on social media that showed the man strike Max in the face before he was swept away by security.
Max later posted on her Twitter page that the man “slapped me so hard that he scratched the inside of my eye.”
And earlier this week, videos posted to social media showed singer Pink picking up a bag of ashes that was thrown on the stage. “This is your mom?” Pink is seen in the video asking somebody in the crowd, then saying “I don’t know how I feel about this.”
The-CNN-Wire
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