Kesha‘s Lollapalooza knife-wielding performance was apparently much more real than anyone knew—including the ‘We R Who We R’ singer.
“Sooooo apparently the prop knife went missing and they replaced it with a real butcher knife stolen from the kitchen,” the 37-year-old claimed via X hours after her Thursday, August 1, performance. “and i didn’t know. till now. so watch that again…..”
At the popular Chicago music festival, the pop star brandished a knife on stage during her performance of the 2010 Animal album cut ‘Backstabber.’
sooooo apparently the prop knife went missing and they replaced it with a real butcher knife stolen from the kitchen. and i didn’t know. till now. so watch that again….
— kesha (@KeshaRose) August 2, 2024
The singer limited the information shared by the one tweet and did not touch on who was responsible. Instead, Kesha seemed excited and pleased about her overall festival appearance, sharing more pictures from the set.
She even shared one image on X of her crouched down with one knee on the stage and her right hand holding up the sharp kitchen knife with the caption reading “new dating app profile pic.”
new dating app profile pic pic.twitter.com/BxmZDc27FE
— kesha (@KeshaRose) August 5, 2024
But the energetic performance, now viewed differently with the concerning reveal, raised questions about safety, especially as the singer flaunted the blade around before pretending to stab her dancers.
On Reddit, one popular comment read: “How do they opt for a REAL knife instead of having a backup prop knife?? Thank God nothing happened since the knife was the focal point of the song and part of the choreography was ‘stabbing at’ her backup dancers.”
“Katy’s to the left… backstabber”🔪
Kesha at Lollapalooza 2024 pic.twitter.com/tnMr7mAiXR
— Kesha Discord (@KeshaDiscord) August 2, 2024
“Yikes. Why wouldn’t you tell her!!” another netizen questioned why the artist wouldn’t be informed of the change, which could have resulted in a horrible accident.
One more added: “That is so wild and unbelievably dangerous, considering part of the choreography is for her to ‘stab’ at her dancers.”
“On top of stabbing at her dancers, she’s flailing it around in a hand that’s wet with fake blood from the song before,” another user pointed out. “If that flew out of her hand and at her dancers or into the crowd…”
Lollapalooza, which debuted as a touring event in 1991, expanded internationally in 2010, now with festivals across the globe in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Sweden, France, and India. Headliners included Blink 182, The Killers, SZA, Megan Thee Stallion, and Melanie Martinez.
Other artists who performed Thursday at Chicago’s Grant Park included Megan Thee Stallion, Hozier, Chappell Roan, and Tyla.