Laugh it off! American Idol season 23 contestant Slater Nalley isn’t letting embarrassment get the best of him after he fell off the stage following a performance during the Easter Sunday episode.
The musician, 18, took to his Instagram with his reaction on Tuesday, April 22, sharing a video of his TV playing the moment he fell during the Sunday, April 20, episode. While his stumble was not captured by American Idol’s cameras, viewers did get to see host Ryan Seacrest ask Slater if he was OK.
“It’s the heel on that boot!” Ryan, 50, told the audience after rushing over to the teen to see what happened.
Over his recording, Slater wrote, “POV: You make Top 14 of American Idol and immediately fall off stage.” He later added a crying laughing emoji.
“It was the heel on that boot,” Slater confirmed in more text.
In the caption, Slater added, “But Seriously, thank y’all so much for voting me into the Top 14! Feeling extremely grateful right now. More music to come!”
Fans flooded the comments with support for the Atlanta native and praised him for taking the mishap like a champ.
“Hahah at least they didn’t show the footage! Hahah you’re our fave! We were all screaming when you got through!” one user wrote, while another fan added, “Darn boots!! You were amazing! Keep on keeping on my friend.”
A third person commented, “Of course that happened. But you were amazing!!! So proud of you!!”
Slater also shared the post on his Instagram Stories and added, “Fell off y’all. Not used to walking in boot heels.”
Just before the incident occurred, Slater learned that he had made it to the Top 14 and performed “This Ain’t It” by Jason Isbell to celebrate. During Sunday’s episode, artists were instructed to sing songs of faith, and the Top 14 out of 20 were chosen to continue in the competition. The 10 artists who received the most votes from America automatically advanced and performed their songs in celebration, while the remaining 10 singers were in danger of elimination. They had to perform in hopes of being one of the four people chosen to move forward by judges Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.
In addition to Slater, contestants Kolbi Jordan, Thunderstorm Artis, Filo, Mattie Pruitt, Jamal Roberts, Gabby Samone, John Foster, Canaan James Hill and Breanna Nix were voted into the Top 14. The judges selected Desmond Roberts, Josh King, Ché Chesterman and Amanda Barise to move forward.
Baylee Littrell, Drew Ryn, Zaylie Windsor, Victor Solomon, Olivier Bergeron and Isaiah Misailegalu were eliminated during Sunday’s episode.
Slater has been a standout artist and fan favorite on American Idol season 23 so far. He grabbed viewers’ attention with his audition by performing an original song that he wrote for one of his teacher’s sons, who had died a few years before his Idol journey began.
“This song’s called ‘Traces of You.’ I wrote it for Carter Davis. That’s probably the most deep thing I’ve ever — 100 percent the most deep thing I’ve ever written about,” he told the judges in his audition. “I didn’t know Carter before any of this happened, and when Mrs. Davis told us, I just felt this presence come into my life, essentially, and I knew that I needed to do something. I went home and started working on little notebook pages and eventually it turned into a song.”
