Luke Bryan is speaking out after he was pelted by a ball thrown at him while performing during his “Country Song Came On Tour” stop at the North Dakota State Fair on July 26.
The “American Idol” judge was singing “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” when the ball hit him in the head. He immediately backed up a few steps and continued with the performance.
“Poor @Luke Bryan got hit in the face during his encore 😅 carried on like a champ though,” someone who shared a clip of moment captioned it on TikTok.
Bryan responded to the moment in an interview with Taste of Country, a country music publication.
“It’s the last song of the night. It was a big ole fun party, and I think one person just took it too far,” Bryan said.
Bryan, who recently canceled shows after getting COVID, said he’s aware that having items tossed as you is a hazard of the job for all performers.
“We see it. Every other entertainer out there is getting stuff — you get stuff thrown at ya,” he said.
“You hope that you can see who did it,” he added.
Bryan said if he had seen who threw the ball, he may have confronted the person, although he knows that could’ve potentially altered the concert.
“I mean, if I saw him throw it, I could have gone right to him,” he said. “I probably would have jumped right off in there.”
“If I jump off in there … there were a lot of little kids down there,” he added. “At that point, if I’d even stopped it and pointed somebody out, it kills the vibe of the show.”
Fans who saw the TikTok video were quick to chastise the person who threw the ball.
“Shame on whoever did this,” one person commented.
“Why do people do this?” asked someone else.
“omg people need to stop throwing things,” another person wrote.
“Why? Just why?” someone else wondered.
This episode follows a spate of similar incidents that occurred in 2023 when multiple artists were hit by various items while they were onstage. The list of artists includes Harry Styles, Pink, Cardi B, Bebe Rexha, Drake and Kelsea Ballerini, among others. Ava Max says she was slapped by a fan. Earlier this year, Morgan Wallen was hit by a thong.
Billie Eilish, who was hit during a concert as recently as last December, has addressed the trend.
“I’ve been getting hit on stage with things for like, literally, six years, I don’t know why this is like new,” the “Birds of a Feather” singer told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023. “People just get excited and it can be dangerous.”
