Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour has been the hottest ticket in North America since opening at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on March 17. One Swiftie became a security guard with the sole goal of attending an Eras show. Tens of thousands of Swifties waited out a four-hour rain delay to see her perform in the pouring rain in Nashville, and countless more without tickets have set up shop outside each venue, a trend that continued in Chicago over the weekend (as noted by NBC News).
The latter group of Swifties are likely jealous of an unassuming bug this morning, June 5.
Swift’s third and final Eras concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field was Sunday night, June 4, and interrupted by Swift unwillingly swallowing a bug.
“I just swallowed a bug,” Swift told her adoring crowd, covering her mouth and turning away. “It’s totally fine. It’s just stupid. Oh, delicious. Ugh. Oh, god. Is there any chance that none of you saw that?”
She then entered a brief coughing fit before continuing, “It’s fine. I swallowed it. So, I’m just gonna try not to do as many of those. This is gonna happen again tonight. There’s so many bugs. There’s 1,000 of ’em.”
The unscripted moment was captured by various fans in attendance and predictably spread across social media.
🎥| @TaylorSwift13 after swallowing a bug pic.twitter.com/VD8y0amzNq
— The Swift Society (@TheSwiftSociety) June 5, 2023
NO TAYLOR JUST SWALLOWED A BUG 🦟#ChicagoTheErasTour #erastour @taylornation13 @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/Cjhb3fwtTR
— christina MaE! (@thefunofyou13) June 5, 2023
🚨| Taylor Swift has officially swallowed a bug during the ‘evermore’ set of tonight’s show of ‘The Eras Tour’! #TSTheErasTour #ChicagoTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/CytMuFJrUg
— The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) June 5, 2023
📹 | Closer video of Taylor swallowing a bug on stage #ChicagoTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/BLZuHekr0B
— Taylor Swift News 🤍 (@TSwiftNZ) June 5, 2023
📹 | Taylor Swift after she swallowed a bug on stage tonight #ChicagoTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/AOeEQdjMY2
— Taylor Swift News 🤍 (@TSwiftNZ) June 5, 2023
And other Swifties used it to get jokes off about feeling envious of a bug:
can you believe A BUG went to the eras tour AND met taylor swift and I DIDNT???? pic.twitter.com/7QnsktOV6g
— zaynah ౨ৎ (@peaceofseven) June 5, 2023
cant believe the bug in taylor swift’s digestive tract got to hear hits different live and i didn’t
— sam (@swieder13) June 5, 2023
According to Billboard, Swift’s understandable inability to tolerate a bug in her throat happened as she was preparing to perform “Tolerate It.” She’s a mastermind.