Carly Pearce: Lainey Wilson & Kelsea Ballerini Supported Me After Heckler Incident

Her girls have her back. Of course, other than some internet trolls, I don’t think anybody (who’s reasonable) had a problem with Carly Pearce putting her foot down and throwing a heckler out of a recent show.

The Kentucky native was performing at WE Fest, a country music festival in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, ahead of headliner Parker McCollum, when the show got a little sidetracked. According to radio personality @IanOnAir, and confirmed by Carly herself, the singer was introducing a song and said something to the effect of “I’m gonna tell you a little about myself,” and some scumbag in the crowd allegedly said, “no one cares.”

And unfortunately for him, Carly heard him:

“Somebody get him out of here, I do not want him at my show. Get out of my show. If you’re gonna be an a**hole, you’re gonna have to say it to me and then get the f**k out of my show. I do not have time for dicks… see you later.”

.@CarlyPearce (rightfully) putting up with ZERO bullshit during her set tonight at WE Fest!

What did that asshole say, anyways? pic.twitter.com/JupUaN5yzK

— Ian 🎙 (@OnAirIan) August 3, 2024

She followed it up by saying that it was the first time she’s ever removed a fan from the crowd, and from the reaction I’ve seen, it seems like pretty much everybody was on her side. Including, apparently, her fellow country artists.

During an appearance on The Viall Files podcast with Nick Viall, Carly said both Lainey Wilson and Kelsea Ballerini texted her after the moment went viral to show their support:

“That’s how I knew it got viral. Because within 5 minutes of each other, Kelsea and Lainey texted me. And I was like, ‘Uh oh, this isn’t good.’ But they were so supportive and it was like, girls aligned in that moment. I think it’s great.”

In addition to country artists, Carly said she’s also heard from dads who thanked her for showing their daughters that they can stand up for themselves. She emphasized the importance of female artists setting an example for young girls and supporting each other:

“Nobody really understands… I’m going to speak to the females in country music, there’s so few of us. When you have that kind of support from people that you love and genuinely are building you up, they’re like ‘Hey, I see you.’ They understand it on a level that my girlfriend isn’t going to understand…I’m glad to know they’ve got my back too. And I hope it opened a door for people to be able to speak up. Especially girls. It’s like, you don’t have to tolerate that.”

Like I said, I don’t think anybody reasonable has a problem with what Carly did. If you’re going to a concert to be an asshole to the artist just because you think they won’t notice, you deserve to get called out when they do.