Kelsea Ballerini Claps Back At Concertgoer Who Called Out Ex Morgan Evans

Kelsea Ballerini refused to stand for “disrespectful” comments from a concertgoer while she performed one of her biggest heartache ballads in Sydney, Australia.

Ballerini, 32, paused her performance to clap back at a heckler over the weekend. She was in the midst of “Penthouse,” one of the tracks that appeared on her deeply vulnerable EP, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. The EP arrived months after her 2022 divorce from Australian singer-songwriter Morgan Evans. Videos of Ballerini’s Sydney headlining concert have circulated on TikTok and Instagram, showing her reaction to the fan who shouted after Ballerini sang, “it stings rolling up the welcome mat knowing you got half.” Some TikToks reports state that the heckler shouted “Team Morgan,” while others state that he shouted “f*** you, Morgan,” which a concertgoer appears to yell during a live rendition of “Penthouse (Healed Version)” on Ballerini’s Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good).

“F*** off,” Ballerini replied, rolling her eyes. “Team ‘everyone’s happy.’” She gave a thumbs up and the middle finger as others in her audience cheered, and continued with her performance. Ballerini shared a clip of that moment on her Instagram story, and wrote on the since-expired slide: “Respectfully, if anyone yells anything disrespectful to anyone during this song again, it will no longer be on the setlist. Please let this be a song that matters to people and not a place to insert yourself into a world that doesn't exist and was never yours to begin with. Team everyone’s happy or bust. Please.”

This isn’t the first time Ballerini paused her “Penthouse” performance to address a concertgoer’s comments about her ex-husband at that same point in the song. Earlier this year, when at least one fan apparently yelled “f*** you, Morgan,” Ballerini replied: “Guys, we have to stop saying that. Seriously. We’re three years past it. Everything’s fine now. I sing this song for you now. It’s not about me anymore. Please. Please. Alright. For everyone that’s moving forward with their life, will you sing this with me?”

Ballerini’s most recent release is Mount Pleasant, a 6-track EP with “I Sit In Parks,” “People Pleaser,” “Emerald City,” “587,” “The Revisionist” and “Check On Your Friends.” The 2026 Grammy nominee said, in part, when she released Mount Pleasant that it’s “a chapter of heavy self examination, longing, and stepping further into who I am as a 32 year old woman. …From the body clock crash outs, to the ‘who the f*** am I outside of who people tell me I am?,’ to the admission and ick of comparison and jealousy, to making peace with the past, to the urgency of checking on your friends and yourself into the future. Mount Pleasant is a place, a feeling, an uphill journey, and an idea of what’s to come.”