Fans React After Luke Bryan Takes a Hit to the Face From Flying Object at Concert: ‘No Excuse for This’

Luke Bryan’s fans are showing their support after he was struck in the face by a flying object while rocking the stage in North Dakota — and proceeded to put on a stellar performance.

The American Idol judge, 49, was visibly startled when a small plush ball came pummeling toward him while doing a live rendition of his 2011 hit “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” at the State Fair. He ducked down for a moment then shrugged it off and continued.

In a now-viral TikTok video shared on Sunday, July 27, Bryan was belting out the lyrics as the crowd sang along when the item whacked him in the eye.

“Poor @Luke Bryan got hit in the face during his encore. Carried on like a champ though #ndstatefair #lukebryan,” the clip, which has garnered nearly 300,000 views, was captioned.

Many commenters expressed disappointment after the incident, claiming it cast a shadow over his performance. “Whoever that was ruined the whole concert bc he stopped so early,” one person wrote, to which the original poster replied, “And didn’t come back out to say hi to fans.”

“And this is why we probably don’t get better concerts at the fair. I f**king hate people. There is no excuse for this,” another social media user commented, while a fourth commended Bryan for letting the show go on, writing, “I would have walked off the stage and been done singing.”

@rissway

Poor @Luke Bryan got hit in the face during his encore 😅 carried on like a champ though #ndstatefair #lukebryan

♬ original sound – rissway

According to KFYRTV, the suspect has yet to be identified and Bryan has not filed any complaint.

“It is an issue, especially when they are throwing [an object] at all, but when they’re throwing it at the stage, at the artist. I think it paints the event in a bad light,” Chief Deputy Larry Hubbard told the outlet, revealing it’s become more common in recent years. Hubbard noted that an announcement is played before every concert advising guests not to throw things.

Some incidents are more serious than others. In 2023, Bebe Rexha received a black eye after being hit by a fan’s cell phone mid-performance during a concert in New York City.

The culprit, Nicolas Malvagna, was later arrested and charged with assault.

According to the criminal complaint obtained by People, Malvanga, who was 27 at the time, was trying to see if he “could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny.”

His lawyer, Todd Spodek, clarified Malvanga’s stance in a statement with the outlet, explaining, “Nicolas, like many other fans, was hoping to interact in some way with Ms. Rexha as the phone was returned. It was never his intention to injure Ms. Rexha in any way.”

In 2024, a video of Billie Eilish also surfaced, showing the singer, 23, being struck in the face with a bracelet during a show in Arizona that December, captioned, “I was lowkey furious.”