While Luke Bryan was performing at Charlie Daniels’ 80th Birthday Volunteer Jam, he took a swing at a fan in the audience in the middle of his set.
Bryan joined Daniels, Chris Stapleton, Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and Larry the Cable Guy for the record-setting event, which drew more than 15,000 fans and raised $245,000 for the organization Journey Home Project, according to Taste of Country.
Bryan performed his hits “Play It Again”, “Rain Is A Good Thing”, “Huntin’, Fishin’, and Lovin’ Everyday” and was closing out his set with his latest single, “Move”, when he took a step off stage to deal with an unruly concert-goer.
Bryan was performing as he normally does, which includes a few of his signature booty shakes. He stopped mid-booty shake to yell, “Come on!” to someone in the audience. As you can see in the videos below, a man wearing a black shirt with white long sleeves, who was in the front row, stood up and appeared to flip Bryan off. Bryan stopped singing for a moment to confront him, and ended up taking a swing at him. We can’t tell if he punched the man or slapped him, but there was definitely some contact.
Bryan continued the show, and even sang a duet with Daniels later on, but it was the end of the night for the man in the audience. He was quickly approached by security and escorted out of the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee immediately after the altercation.
Multiple videos of the incident have been circulating the Internet, but we haven’t heard anything from Bryan or his team – until now.
According to Rare Country, Bryan and his camp released the following statement:
“A man in front row was making crude hand gestures toward Luke during his performance. 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 who were in the audience. The concert security personnel saw the man’s disruptive actions of the event and he was escorted out.”
Watch the video from two different angles below. How do you think Luke handled the situation? Sound off in the comments section.