Miranda Lambert Facing Boycott After She Shames Fans Mid-Concert
The singer called out fans taking photos during a recent Las Vegas show.
If you decide to take photos of yourself and your friends at a concert, let this be a warning to you: You may get called out by the artist on stage. During a recent date of country star Miranda Lambert's Las Vegas residency, she stopped in the middle of a song, because of a group of concertgoers taking a photo in front of the stage distracted her. After calling them out, the musician restarted her song. But, now that videos of the awkward moment are circulating online, Lambert is facing backlash, including ticket buyers for upcoming shows declaring that they've already returned their tickets for refunds.
Read on to find out what Lambert said to the fans, how one of them responded after the fact, and what critics are saying online.
RELATED: Critics Are Calling for Beyoncé to Be Canceled After Controversial Live Performance.
Lambert called out a "selfie."
As seen in videos of the concert posted online, Lambert halted a performance of her 2016 song "Tin Man" to address a group in the audience.
"These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song. It's pissing me off a little bit. I don't like it at all," the 39-year-old singer said. "We're here to hear some country music tonight. I'm singing some country damn music. Shall we start again?"
After making her point, she started the song over from the beginning.
One of the fans in question posted the shots on social media.
Adela Calin was one of the concert attendee's Lambert was referring to, and she posted two pictures taken in that moment to Instagram. In the photos, she and her friends are close to the stage with their backs facing Lambert, who is singing in the background.
"These are the 2 pictures we were talking when Miranda Lambert stopped her concert and told us to sit down and not take selfies," Calin wrote, adding a shocked face emoji.
Calin also claimed to NBC News that she and her friends were trying to take the photos quickly.
"It was 30 seconds at most," Calin, who NBC News reports is a social media influencer, said. "We took the picture quickly and were going to sit back down." She also said that they tried to get a photo at a different point during the show, but the lighting wasn't good enough.
Calin continued, "It felt like I was back at school with the teacher scolding me for doing something wrong and telling me to sit down back in my place … I feel like she was determined to make us look like we were young, immature and vain. But we were just grown women in our 30s to 60s trying to take a picture."
For more celebrity news delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Some fans left the show in protest.
A TikTok video from the user @redneckinvegas shows the moment that Lambert called out Calin and her group. Afterwards, the person taking the video says that they are leaving. "Let's go, come on, you don't do that to fans," they say.
Responding to a commenter on her Instagram who wrote, "Please tell me you walked out," Calin said, "2 of my friends did."
Lambert is getting heat on social media.
Calin's Instagram is full of commenters supporting her and criticizing Lambert. The "House That Built Me" singer has not spoken out about what happened, but her Instagram is full of comments about it, including some from people who say they not longer support her.
"Just got a refund on my tickets! Not going to see you after you embarrassed those girls for no reason at all," an Instagram user wrote. Another posted, "Imagine being so entitled that you stop a show to embarrass a group of women taking a group photo."
Someone else said, "Lost a fan after seeing how you called out those girls for taking selfies at a concert." Another person wrote, "Don't forget that the people taking selfies at your concert are paying YOUR bills."
RELATED: See Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash's Only Child All Grown Up.
Other fans defended her.
Amid the backlash, people also defended Lambert for speaking out against what they saw as bad concert etiquette. TikTok user @alirosecountry posted a video from the concert that shows Calin and her group taking their photo. They wrote of the photo-taking, "This started several minutes before Miranda stopped the show. And then continued with more people AND flash into 'Tin Man,' which was distracting to everyone around them during one of the most powerful moments… Everyone around them was happy Miranda addressed it."
Someone else posted a concert video to Twitter and wrote, "Different view of the Miranda Lambert show-stopping moment at her show at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood on Saturday. Six women, taking multiple selfies, with flash, VIP section, backs to the stage. I get her frustration."
A fan tweeted, "I'm 100% Team @mirandalambert calling out the selfie girls. If you're bent out of shape about it, stay home and take selfies while you listen to her on Spotify! I've seen your type at shows and it's bad. You're there to post to your social, not appreciate live music."
Another person wrote, "Miranda Lambert is RIGHT, and she SHOULD say it! Too many supposed 'fans' go to concerts just for their [expletive] Instagram."
