Cyndi Lauper has proved that she’s not to be messed with after one audience member showed their true colours at the opening night of Las Vegas residency.
The singer, 72, challenged a heckler at the concert, telling them mid-show: “If you’re trying to shade me, b****, I’m gonna come for you.”
Lauper, who is best known for her hits “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” and “Time After Time”, kicked off her first-ever residency at Caesars Palace’s Colosseum on Friday (24 April).
However, while the Grammy-winner was introducing her song “Sally’s Pigeons”, she was interrupted by a heckler in the audience.
After the heckler shouted something unintelligible, Lauper replied: “I don’t know what the f*** you’re saying, hon.”
“But please remember where you are, OK? Because if you’re trying to shade me, bitch, I’m gonna come for you,” she continued, to applause from the audience.
“I’m from Brooklyn, and if I wanna f***ing talk, I will do a tap dance if I f***ing want. Sorry, that of course is not part of my people skills.”
While hecklers have been a long-time nuisance in the world of comedy, musicians have regularly had to deal with them too. Last November, singer Halsey hit back at an audience member in Boston who told her to “stop talking and play” a specific song, telling them: “You think you’re tough s*** because you’re from Boston? I’m from Jersey, baby. I’ll whoop your a**.”
In December, country star Kelsey Ballerini also took on a heckler in Sydney, Australia after they shouted, “Team Morgan!” Ballerini, who divorced Australian husband Morgan Evans in 2022 after five years of marriage, had been singing “Penthouse” – a track interpreted by many listeners to be about the end of their marriage.
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Pausing the performance, she responded: “F*** off. Team ‘everyone is happy’ here.” A similar incident had happened in February during her concert in Florida. She later took to her Instagram story, threatening to take the song off the setlist “if anyone yells anything disrespectful to anyone during this song again”.
Lauper is performing in Las Vegas for a limited run, with just five concerts making up her residency. They are currently scheduled to be taking place up until May 2.
Last November, Lauper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Chappell Roan introducing her on stage. She was joined in the class of 2025 by the White Stripes, Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa, Joe Cocker and other stars.