Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media Inc.
Ballerini reacted to the remark by rolling her eyes at the audience, giving a thumbs-up, and then flipping them off.
Kelsea Ballerini Demands Respect at Concerts After Fan Shouts Ex-Husband’s Name
Kelsea Ballerini is making it clear she expects respect during her performances.
The 32-year-old Grammy-nominated singer called out a fan during her headlining show in Sydney on December 6 after the attendee shouted her ex-husband Morgan Evans’ name while she was performing an emotional song.
In videos circulating on social media, Ballerini can be seen performing her track “Penthouse” to enthusiastic cheers before someone yelled, “Team Morgan!” The crowd immediately responded with boos. Ballerini told the fan to “f— off,” rolled her eyes, and added with a smile, “See? Everyone’s happy.” She then gave a thumbs-up to the audience before playfully flipping them off.
Penthouse is featured on Ballerini’s 2023 EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which she wrote and recorded following her divorce from Australian singer-songwriter Evans, 40. The song contains lyrics such as, “It hurts putting s— in a box / And now we don’t talk / And it stings rolling up the welcome mat / Knowing you got half.”
Addressing the incident on her Instagram Stories, Ballerini wrote: “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.”
Ballerini and Evans filed for divorce in August 2022 after nearly five years of marriage, according to court records obtained by PEOPLE. A source explained at the time that the couple had worked on their relationship for years, including therapy, and had previously separated privately before deciding to formally part ways.
The two first met in March 2016 while co-hosting Australia’s CMC Awards, became engaged in December of the same year, and married roughly a year later in Mexico.
In an April 2025 PEOPLE cover story, Ballerini reflected on how creating Rolling Up the Welcome Mat helped her process the “intense” period of her divorce. She shared, “I was going through what my parents did, and I went back to writing songs simply because I had to. I was like, ‘I have to get it out of me.’ My goal was to show other sides of heartbreak — to provide more narrative, especially for women, around life changes and divorce.”
Following her split from Evans, Ballerini had an on-and-off relationship with Chase Stokes for about three years. A representative confirmed their breakup in September 2025, though they later sparked reconciliation rumors after being seen vacationing together in Europe.
The country star recently released her latest EP, Mount Pleasant, in November and is currently wrapping up the final leg of her Patterns Tour, with three shows remaining in Australia.