Heavy "Voice" coach hit in face at concert
Former “The Voice” Comeback Stage coach Kelsea Ballerini had to stop her June 28 concert after being hit in the face by a flying object thrown on stage from the audience. Ballerini is the second former “Voice” coach to have this happen to her this month after Bebe Rexha had to get stitches after an incident at her June 18 concert.
Fans captured the incident from Ballerini’s concert and posted it to social media. In the video clip, Ballerini can be seen playing guitar and singing her song “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” when an object (later revealed to be a bracelet) flies out of the audience directly into the country star’s face. Ballerini flinches, backs away from her microphone, and holds her hand up to her face while her band and backup singers continue on with the song.
Ballerini’s violin player, the closest to her on stage, walks over to check on her while Ballerini continues to face away from the audience. The musicians slowly stopped playing their instruments while Ballerini took her guitar off and headed backstage.
The incident took place five songs into Ballerini’s 20-track setlist, which she returned to the stage and completed after making sure she was not injured by the bracelet.
Kelsea Ballerini Updates Her Fans: ‘I’m Fine’
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. If you can’t hand it to her, there are so many other options. Lord,…
Ballerini addressed the bracelet incident in a June 29 Instagram story, where she wrote, “Hi. I’m fine. 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 us all. I love you and appreciate all of the concern. Let’s make the last two shows of the HEARTFIRST Tour the best yet.”
Ballerini’s final two tour dates brought her to Sandy, Utah, and Phoenix, Arizona.
Ballerini also shared a shorter message in a June 29 Instagram post, writing, “two shows of the heartfirst tour left 🥲 (ps- i’m fine, let’s just do a better job of keeping each other safe at shows. ily.)”
Fans also reacted to the bracelet incident in Ballerini’s comment section, leaving messages including, “Glad you’re ok! This weird trend of throwing anything on stage needs to end. It’s not safe- full stop.” and “I don’t understand why someone would throw something at anyone like what’s the point ? No one was laughing”.
What Happened to Bebe Rexha?
Ballerini’s fellow former Comeback Stage coach on “The Voice” Bebe Rexha was also hit by a flying object, a cell phone, at one of her concerts this month. Rexha posted a June 19 selfie, one day after the incident, simply writing “Im good.” under two photos that showed off the cut left in her eyebrow by the cell phone and the black eye and bandages the next morning after she had to get stitches. While Rexha wasn’t hit until her set’s usual closing number, “I’m Good (Blue)” (by Rexha and David Guetta), the star still had to end the song abruptly and be rushed off stage.
Police found the fan who threw the cell phone at Rexha, and reported that their reason for throwing the phone was that they thought it would be “funny.”
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