Carly Pearce showed off a different side of herself when she challenged a rude concertgoer at a show on Aug. 2, but she is not the only country star to take exception to an unruly fan. Quite a few country singers have taken matters into their own hands while dealing with misbehaving fans at live shows.

Pearce made headlines when she confronted a heckler during her set at WE Fest 2024, directing a completely uncharacteristically profane tirade toward him before having him removed. She’s just one of quite a few country singers who’ve stepped up for themselves when fans crossed a line at a live show, though.

Miranda Lambert has been in the news twice in recent days after telling off fans who were behaving badly at her shows, and Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Chris Janson and more have found themselves in similar situations over the years.

Even Faith Hill has been obliged to confront a fan who behaved remarkably inappropriately at a concert, while Tim McGraw has demonstrated on several different occasions that you do not mess with him while he is performing.

Read on to see which country stars have confronted unruly fans at live gigs, and how they handled it.

Carly Pearce Confronts Audience Member at WE Fest 2024

Who know Carly Pearce had it in her? The normally affable singer went off on a man during her set at WE Fest 2024 after he said something that she took exception to, telling him directly from the stage, “If you’re gonna be an a–hole, then you’re gonna have to say it to me and get the f–k out of my show.”

She had security remove the man, later telling iHeartCountry’s Ashley Morrison of US 103.5 in Tampa Bay, Fla., that he “hit me in a moment where my ‘Kentucky’ came out full-force, and I just, ‘I’m so tired of being afraid of standing up for myself.”

Miranda Lambert Breaks Up a Fight Mid-Show

Miranda Lambert stopped her show in Midland, Texas, to stop a fight that broke out during her song, “Tin Man.”

It turned out that it was women who were causing the commotion, and Lambert admonished them directly, saying, “I will come down there, and you don’t want that.”

Miranda Lambert Stops Her Show to Call Out a Rowdy Fan

Lambert stopped her show once again during her performance at the 2024 Under the Big Sky Festival in Whitefish, Mont., on July 13, to address a disruptive fan, saying, “If you came to visit, you can do it somewhere else. If you came to sing and hear some country music and drink some beer and raise some hell, then we’re doing that tonight.”

She noted with some amusement that once again, the offending party was female.

“It’s always the girls. We get crazy!” Lambert joked.

Tim McGraw Swats Female Fan Who Got Too Handsy

Tim McGraw appeared to slap a female fan during a 2014 concert in Atlanta after video surfaced of her appearing to grab at and tear his blue jeans.

The video made it look like the superstar slapped the fan in retaliation, but a statement from his rep explained that McGraw simply “instinctively swatted to try and keep them from ripping his jeans (which they succeeded at doing!), and so he could get to more fans who were trying to slap hands with him before the end of the show. He didn’t know who had grabbed him and was simply trying to keep his jeans from being torn.”

Faith Hill Confronts Concertgoer Who Groped Tim McGraw

Faith Hill made headlines all over the world in 2007, when she angrily went after a female fan who groped husband Tim McGraw’s crotch during a joint concert they were performing. Hill told the woman in no uncertain terms that her behavior was “disrespectful” and that she needed to learn some class, and in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, she went on to say that McGraw had been just as angry about the situation.

“He was livid,” she shared. “I mean, he was red and fuming.”

“What I really wanted to do is kick her you-know-what … I mean, how disrespectful!” she added. “And plus, it’s like sexual harassment. I mean, if a man was to do that to a woman?”

Kane Brown Kicks Unruly Fan Out of Concert

Kane Brown didn’t miss a beat when it came time to eject an unruly concertgoer from a show in Atlanta in June of 2024.

The singer was in the middle of singing “I Can Feel It” when an audience member flipped him the middle finger. Brown didn’t hesitate, telling the man, “Come here, I wanna show you what flipping me off will do,” before appearing to add that he’s going to “beat his a–.”

He flagged security toward the man, telling them to “get his a– out of here,” but did not miss a note of his show.

Luke Bryan Slaps Audience Member Who Disrespected Veterans

Luke Bryan‘s one of the most affable stars in country music, but even he has his limits, as an audience member in Nashville found out the hard way in 2016.

Bryan was performing as part of Charlie Daniels‘ 80th Birthday Volunteer Jam when a fan at the front made crude gestures toward the performers on the stage. The normally easygoing star abruptly jumped down into the audience just long enough to shove him in the right side of his face with his left hand before just as suddenly returning to the stage to complete his performance.

“A man in the front row was making crude hand gestures toward Luke during his performance,” a rep for Bryan told Taste of Country at the time. “It was insulting not only to him, but more importantly to the men, women and families sitting around him who were there to support and celebrate Charlie Daniels and the efforts of raising money for the military veterans — some of whom were in the audience. The concert security personnel saw the man’s disruptive actions of the event and he was escorted out.”

Toby Keith Personally Confronts Unruly Fan at Live Show

Toby Keith took security upon himself at a concert in February of 2009, after seeing an audience member dumping his beer on the stage and flipping Keith the middle finger.

The singer followed the rowdy fan and his wife to the exit before grabbing him and having a terse conversation about the situation, and then security stepped in and separated them.

Chris Janson Stands Up to Unruly Fan Who Disrespected Him

Chris Janson also did not hesitate to take up for himself when a fan at one of his shows raised the middle finger in 2023 — unfortunately, while the singer’s 9-year-old son, Jesse, was on stage with him.

See his reaction:

“Let me be clear, and you know what I mean by this … there is a difference when you’re with your buddies and y’all are flipping each other off, that’s funny, you’re playing around. I can take it, I’m an adult, I understand,” Janson said in an interview with Taste of Country Nights.

“I usually never break cue or code, but I just had enough. You’re not gonna disrespect me or my family like that,” Janson added. “I’m not gonna take it.”

Justin Moore Tells Off Man Who Mistreated Woman at His Show

You do not disrespect women around Justin Moore, as one man found out first-hand at a show in 2016. Moore stepped forward to yell at a man who had thrown something at a woman in the crowd, saying, “Hey, hey, hey! Look at me!” to get his attention.

“If you ever throw anything at a woman at another one of my shows, I’m gonna beat the f–k out of you,” Moore finished — and from the look of the clip below, he meant it.

Sterling Whitaker is a Senior Writer and Senior Editor for Taste of Country. He focuses on celebrity real estate, as well as coverage of Yellowstone and related shows like 1883 and 1923. He’s interviewed cast members including Cole Hauser, Kelly Reilly, Sam Elliott and Harrison Ford, and Whitaker is also known for his in-depth interviews with country legends including Don Henley, Rodney Crowell, Trace Adkins, Ronnie Milsap, Ricky Skaggs and more.