Katy Perry Plunges Above Audience

Katy Perry was riding a giant prop butterfly over the crowd at San Francisco's Chase Center on Friday night when the prop malfunctioned and dropped several feet before jerking to a stop.

In a video posted by a concert-goer early yesterday morning on X, Perry is seen singing her hit song "Roar", when the butterfly made an abrupt fall of about six feet, coming close to audience members.

@Rmadjidi posted the video with the text:

Katy Perry’s giant butterfly prop just malfunctioned mid-show and nearly took her out… she really said fight or flight #lifetimestour #KatyPerry @katyperry @ChrisAntonacci1 @todaykatyp

Perry remained in the saddle and stirrups of the mechanical butterfly as it fell and came to a halting stop before tilting side to side. The pop singer steadied herself with a hand on one of its wings, then finished the song as the butterfly resumed its flight.

She posted a mid-fall photo of herself to her Instagram stories captioned with the phrase "GOODNIGHT SAN FRAN".

Katy Perry riding mechanical butterfly (Photo credit: Theo Wargo)