Kelsea Ballerini Walks Off Stage After Being Struck in the Face by Thrown Bracelet

Kelsea Ballerini was struck in the face by a bracelet thrown from the audience during her concert in Idaho on Wednesday night.

The country singer was performing “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” at Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden in Boise when the object hit her near her eye.

Ballerini flinched and stopped playing her guitar. Her violinist walked up to her and checked her face for injury. Moments later, Ballerini took off her guitar and left the stage.

The singer returned after a break to finish her performance.

“Can we just talk about what happened?” she addressed the crowd.

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“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,” she added.  “Don’t throw things. You know?”

On Thursday morning, Ballerini told fans “I’m fine” in an Instagram story.

“Hi. I’m fine,” she wrote. “Someone threw a bracelet, it hit me in the eye, and it more so just scared me than hurt me. 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. That’s all I ever want, is for shows to feel like a safe place for all of us. I love you and appreciate all of the concern, let’s make the last two shows of the Heartfirst tour the best yet.”

The singer also posted a screengrab of a user comment that read “It’s sad that this happens but maybe she should stay true and not go woke.” The comment seemingly was in reference to Ballerini performing with drag queens during April’s CMT Music Awards to protest anti-drag legislation.

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“Just gonna leave this right here,” Ballerina captioned the screengrab. “A sad, scary world we live in.”

Ballerini is the third artist in recent weeks to be attacked while performing.

On June 19, a concertgoer threw a cell phone that struck Bebe Rexha in the head while she was performing in New York City. The singer was rushed off stage and sent to the hospital as a precaution, and later told the fans she was okay. The man who threw the phone was arrested for assault.

And last week, a man jumped on stage and slapped pop star Ava Max in Los Angeles.

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