Kelsea Ballerini Hits Back at Haters Trolling Her No-Pants Look at 2024 CMT Music Awards: 'Shut Up'

Kelsea Ballerini is rolling up the welcome mat on her haters. 

On Sunday, April 7, the country singer, 30, hosted the CMT Awards in Austin for the fourth time since 2021, and because it was her first time doing it solo, she pulled out all the style stops with nine outfit changes.

To perform a reimagined version of “Love Me Like You Mean It," Ballerini slipped into a gold bodysuit over tights and sky-high heels. (Although this was pre-taped at the University of Texas Tower a few days in advance, her ‘80s disco glam still counted as one of her looks of the night!) 

Ballerini was clearly loving her no-pants moment like she meant it, but apparently some internet trolls felt the opposite way. On Monday, April 8, Ballerini filmed and posted a TikTok video addressing the online backlash she’d seen regarding her pants-less performance. 

While getting her glam touched up backstage, Ballerini starts the video off by calling out a couple of the comments she saw about her outfit — “You forgot your pants during your performance,” being one of them. Her response: “Shut up. No I didn’t.” 

Ballerini was perfectly fine rocking her outfit with a view (get it?), ending the video by saying: “It looked hot. Period. Bye.” 

She even had her fans to back her up in the comments section. “Your outfits were on POINT boo!” one wrote. 

Also within Ballerini’s impressive lineup of outfits was a sexy red David Koma dress she wore on the carpet, where she was accompanied by her boyfriend, Chase Stokes, who sported a cream blazer with black trousers. 

Once inside the Moody Center, she kicked off the show in a chainmail slip dress over a black bra and high-waisted briefs, and with bedazzled see-through heels. She even dusted off and brought her Barbie cowgirl costume to Texas. She first stepped out in the Margot Robbie-inspired getup from the Greta Gerwig film at her Halloween gig with The Donut Shop last October. 

Ballerini announced at the close of the show this year’s CMT Awards marked the last time she will host. But she’ll always have fond memories of her time on stage and behind the scenes. 

"There's something about this show, in particular, that feels like a summer party," Ballerini told PEOPLE ahead of the event. "Everyone backstage is 'cheers'-ing each other and running into each other's dressing rooms. That's the energy that I want to bring on screen and into the room."