What to Know
The July 2026 Isle of MTV Malta festival in Floriana, Malta might go down as the event that could have ended in total disaster for performer Katy Perry. In videos that have been shared across social media showing the singer during her performance, you can see what appeared to be a trapped Katy inside a large inflatable replica of a plastic water bottle.
In a video posted on Reddit in particular, Katy seems unsteady on her feet as the audience works together to move the bottle around. It seems like that was the whole point, to give Katy a way to crowd surf without the dangers of actually doing so as such a high-profile artist. But instead of getting back to the stage, the bottle is slowly rolled away from the stage, and even Katy’s fans found the whole incident hilariously on brand for her.
Katy Perry’s concert prop almost didn’t make it back to the stage.
@katyperryuniverse pls bring her back to stage thanks
♬ Watch It Burn – Katy Perry
In the video, Katy is in the large plastic bottle after performing on-stage, but it’s in the middle of her set, so she isn’t quite done yet. The plastic bottle replica is akin to those oversized clear inflatable balls that people often use in lakes or large pools. Which, if we’re being honest here, are equally as scary to get in and out of.
The audience slowly rolls the bottle with Katy in it, seemingly as planned. But then, as she asks to be rolled toward the stage, she is moved further away. Eventually, the bottle makes its way back to the stage so Katy can finish out her performance at the festival, but the moments, which teeter on terrifying and hilarious, are part of a concert incident that people are going to have a hard time just forgetting.
According to USA Today, a representative for Katy did confirm that the bottle and the crowd surfing bit if all part of the act. Per the rep, at no point was Katy actually stuck. But she does seem to be unable to actually move the bottle back toward the stage herself in the footage shared online.
Fans and haters immediately make jokes and puns involving Katy Perry and her music.
🤣 FANS ROLLED KATY PERRY AROUND – FAR TOO LONG
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 29, 2026
Apparently Katy Perry did not plan to surf the crown in the bottle for so long, but the fans kept rolling her in the wrong direction… so she had trouble getting back on stage.
Trapped in a bottle on top of her fans… pic.twitter.com/U9HrXsiNpV
In the Reddit thread with a video of Katy in her plastic bottle from the event, users commented to joke about Katy being a “plastic water bottle” instead of a “plastic bag,” in clear reference to the lyrics of her 2010 song “Firework.” Others agreed that Katy has done other funny or silly things during her concerts before, so they aren’t too surprised by the bit.
“The empathetic person in me: ‘holy f–k that’s got to be terrifying, she’s trying to put on a show for her fans and to put in all that effort to have them turn on her has got to be horrible,'” one Reddit user commented. “The rest of me: ‘this is the funniest thing I have ever seen occur at a performance.'”
Another person joked, “You may not like it, but this is her astronaut training. She’s preparing for another mission and you’re all laughing.”
And when someone asked, “Why would you willingly agree to that?” another person responded, “Ikr? That’s asking for a lot of faith in people I wouldn’t have if I were her.”
Katy Perry cleared up how the concert stunt went wrong.
After the video was shared across different social media platforms, the official Instagram account for the MTV Malta festival posted a video of Katy addressing the plastic bottle incident. According to her, she was “a little worried” in the moment, but it was also her favorite part of the show, so that’s something.
“My favorite moment from the show is probably me rolling around on everybody in a water bottle because I get up close and personal with people,” she says in the video. ” So I basically get in this giant inflatable water bottle and I roll it into the crowd. And tonight I went kind of far and I was a little bit worried I was not gonna come back.”
Luckily, the audience worked together to deliver Katy back to the stage to finish out her portion of the show.
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