Kelsea Ballerini was forced to stop her concert in Boise, Idaho on Wednesday after she was struck in the face by an object thrown from the crowd. The “Heartfelt” singer was in the middle ofperforming her hit song “If You Go Down” at Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden when an object, which some believe to have been a bracelet, flew from the crowd and hit the songstress directly in the face.
Video of the moment surfaced on social media Wednesday night. In the video, Ballerini can be seen singing as the object is hurled directly at her face, the singer flinching backward and stopping her performance. It appeared that the object struck Ballerini directly in the eye, and the musician could be seen holding her hand to her eye before her violinist walked over to check on her. Ballerini eventually took off her guitar and walked off stage.
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“Can we just talk about what happened,” Ballerini asked the crowd when she returned to the stage. “All I care about is keeping everyone safe. If you ever don’t feel safe, please let someone around you know. If anyone’s pushing too much or you just have that gut feeling, just always flag it. Don’t throw things. You know?”
The incident also prompted Ballerini’s official fan account to address the ordeal. In a statement shared to Twitter, the account wrote, “Guys. 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.” The account urged fans, “if can’t hand it to her, there are so many other options. Lord, give it to us! We will make sure it gets to her. But PLEASE don’t put her in danger like this.”
It is unclear if the fan who threw the item was located and removed from the venue, if they were detained or face any charges related to the incident, or just how badly Ballerini was hurt. This marks just the latest incident of performers being injured by objects tossed from the crowd and follows an incident earlier this month that resulted in singer Bebe Rexha receiving emergency medical attention after a concertgoer at her sold-out show at Pier 17’s The Rooftop in Lower Manhattan threw a phone and struck the singer in the face.
