Kelsea Ballerini Calls Out Australian Fan Who Screamed “Team Morgan” During “Penthouse” Performance: “F*** Off… Team Everyone’s Happy”

Time to move on from this chapter.

Kelsea Ballerini is begging fans to move on from her divorce, and given it’s been three years since the two officially called it quits… I don’t blame her for speaking about her frustrations.

Back in 2022, Morgan Evans and the “Peter Pan” singer, Kelsea Ballerini, parted ways after being married for nearly five years. Since both Evans and Ballerini are involved in the country music industry, fans had a front-row seat to their split as both songwriters poured out their emotions through their music. They traded songs back and forth, detailing their sides of the story.

Ballerini’s Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP put things into perspective as she essentially called out every claim that Evans had made against her, and fully pitted her fans against him. The song “Penthouse” detailed many of their issues and her feelings about moving on, and it quickly became a fan favorite. Even years after the song’s release, fans still love to scream the “you got half” line during her concerts.

“It hurts putting sh*t in a box
And now we don’t talk
And it stings rolling up the welcome mat
Knowing you got half”

However, given that their divorce was years ago, and both parties have fully moved on with Morgan Evans dating Laci Kaye Booth and Ballerini dated the Outer Banks actor Chase Stokes for quite some time, although they did recently end their romantic relationship, Ballerini is tired of fans screaming out “you got half” along with other phrases each time she performs “Penthouse.”

Earlier this year, Ballerini paused the song during a performance after fans yelled out, “You got half,” clearly fed up with fans:

“Guys, we have to stop saying that. Seriously, we’re three years past it, everything’s fine now, I sing the song for you now, it’s not about me anymore, please. Alright, for everyone that’s moving forward with their life, will you sing this with me?”

Here’s the viral video:

@carlyrsilverman Update: I didn’t even hear what she was talking about until the comments! Good for her! #kelseaballerini #kelseaballeriniconcert #kelseaballerinitok #kelseaballerinipenthouse #penthouse #kelseaballerinilive ♬ original sound – Carly Silverman

Since that moment, fans have been on their best behavior, respecting Ballerini’s wishes to move on from her past relationship and to let the song serve as a point of healing for others going through something similar. However, some fans in Australia did not get that memo. Ballerini is currently on tour Down Under, and during a recent performance in Sydney, she was disheartened to hear a fan yell out “Team Morgan” in the middle of the song.

Ballerini paused the song for a moment, responding with “F*** off… Team, everyone’s happy,” before throwing a bird at the fan who yelled out the initial statement.

@tanyaamitchell Can we all move on and along now please! This is such a beautiful song and people just have to ruin it! LOVE YOU KELSEA GIRL! @Kelsea Ballerini #kesleaballerini #kelseaballeriniconcert #sydney #australia ♬ original sound – tanyamitchell

In a now-expired Instagram story, Ballerini reposted a fan video of the moment and warned fans that she will remove the song from her live shows if they keep yelling out disrespectful things about her past relationship.

“Respectfully, if anyone yells anything disrespectful to anyone during this song again, it will no longer be on the set list.

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.”

Of course, some fans might argue that her divorce will always be thought of during “Penthouse” along with other songs from Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, but I see Ballerini’s side here as well. Songwriting is complex because the lyrics can take on new meaning to highlight other major life events after the moment in time that inspired the song has passed. “Penthouse” is a powerful tune that could represent the end of friendships, relationships with family members, and lovers to fans, taking on many other forms beyond her divorce. But given that her fans have always had highly opinionated thoughts of whose side they are on, it doesn’t seem like that will stop, no matter how much time has passed.

The following night, Ballerini addressed the situation, but shared a new perspective about what “Penthouse” and other songs on Rolling Up The Welcome Mat mean to her now. Ballerini begins by discussing how her most recent project, Mount Pleasant, brought her healing and helped her shift her perspective on some life events after maturing.

“So we really wanted to play this song because over the last couple of weeks its become even more inportant to me since when I wrote it, but recently I put out an EP called ‘Mount Pleasant,’ my new little baby…But I made this EP called ‘Mount Pleasant’ over the summer about all these thoughts I was having, not just entering into my 30s, but like I just turned 32. So I’m like (dramatic arm gesture) ‘I’m here now!’ 

And that came with a lot of big thoughts in my life that I wasn’t necessarily anticipating. And some really beautiful, some really reflective, some really anticipatory. But one of the things that I’ve really been feeling in life, espeically now that I’ve stepped into womanhood, whatever that may mean to you, is that there are so many things in my life, big and small, that I in hindsight, with age and growith, I just wish I would’ve done differently—and handled with more care or not done at all.”

Ballerini then says something that I am sure many fans never expected to hear from her:

“I’m going to say something, and I never thought I’d say this, but it’s true, it’s true to say here, ‘Welcome Mat’ changed my life. I’m so grateful for it, so grateful for it. It wasn’t my intention, but it changed my life and the way I will make music forever and ever. But I could have been a little bit more gentle. No, I’m serious, and I sing it all with the vigor that I wrote it with because I had the big ole feelings. 

But in hindsight, that is one of the things that I would revise. I would have been more gentle because when you break up, or you know, it comes with two sides of pretty big feelings. And it’s hard to say I regret it, because I love it and I’m proud of it and it’s honest, but at the same time, a lot of people were hurt because of that project.”

Fans then begin yelling, to which Ballerini jokes that she hopes they are nice sentiments after what that fan shouted at her the night before.

“But honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever said that out loud, I don’t think I’ll ever say it again. It is important, it is the truth. I genuinely believe hindsight is the most healing thing you can have, and I think the true test in meter of growth is when you can look at yourself and go, ‘I get it. I see her, I love her, but damn it, Kels.’ 

Whether it’s the verses in the song were probably something I do after the show, like drink one too many margaritas. Which I do plan on doing.”

@ana_marissa listen to her!!!!! and (respectfully) just simply leave her alone @Kelsea Ballerini #kelseaballerini #australia #therevisionist #kelseaballeriniconcert #fyp ♬ original sound – ana

Well said by Ballerini. While I am sure she knows fans love hearing songs from Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, it is very big of her to admit that those harsh feelings are no longer there for her, which is why she gets frustrated when fans still carry them. While the songs might be healing for some of her fans, they don’t hold the same meaning for Ballerini these days, and acknowledging that she wishes she had been kinder shows that she’s grown and matured since that life event… And that’s what it’s all about, right?

Fire up the “Healed Version” of “Penthouse” before you go:

The post Kelsea Ballerini Calls Out Australian Fan Who Screamed “Team Morgan” During “Penthouse” Performance: “F*** Off… Team Everyone’s Happy” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.