Katy Perry stunned the crowd at her Nevada concert when she paused midway through a set to call out a fan who she says has been continuously sending private messages to her longtime partner, actor Orlando Bloom.
As the music stopped playing during her Lifetimes tour on Saturday, the pop star crouched down on the stage, looked one fan directly in the eye and said: “I know why you’re here. Listen, if you keep DM-ing my man … you’ve been doing it for months, ever since the residency. You didn’t come to see me play.”
“If you keep on DM-ing my man, I’m gonna have you removed. Seriously, get your own life. I’m his wife. I don’t want it. I’m his.”
The audience reacted with laughter and cheers as Perry continued to address the fan she called Kyle.
“He don’t want you, Kyle. I’m his wife. I’m his, he’s mine … stay the f**k away,” she reiterated in a clip that has now gone viral on social media.
But as it turns out, Perry’s words were all scripted and served as a segue for the next song she was about to perform, her 2024 single I’m His, He’s Mine.
While her Nevada show was all fun and jokes, the 39-year-old’s 84-date Lifetimes world tour has not been without its challenges.
Although Perry sold out dates across Australia when she performed here next month, she experienced poor ticket sales on the US leg of her world tour, failing to sell out arenas.
The set and production of her tour have also been mocked on social media, with some online critics calling it “cheap.”
“Katy Perry said NO BUDGET for the Lifetimes tour!” proclaimed one viral TikTok, which showed Perry doing battle with her back-up dancers during the hit E.T., wielding what appears to be a plastic Lightsaber.
“It’s giving Temu gaga,” read one brutal comment, while another compared it to the infamous “Wonka Experience” in Glasgow.
Others complained the singer looked “bored” in the clips they’d seen online.
Other elements of the show have copped fierce criticizm too, including Perry’s decision to use what appears to be AI-generated imagery in the video backdrops for the tour.
Footage of Perry performing the song Lifetimes reveals the star on stage in front of a video compilation of happy, smiling revellers – but they aren’t live shots from the audience, and instead look suspiciously AI-generated.
Pundits on social media dubbed the apparent use of AI imagery “zero effort and low budget.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
