All the times celebrities have been upstaged by the smallest of surprise guests - otherwise known as bugs

Sometimes, even the biggest celebrities will get upstaged on a red carpet when someone arrives in a jaw-dropping outfit. It's an expected part of being a star.

What's not as common, though, is being upstaged by a very small, very unwanted, and very naked guest – sometimes even at your own concert!

We are, of course, talking about bugs.

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You may not realise, but there have been a handful of times famous faces have been upstaged by bugs, and while it may not be ridiculously common, it tends to go ridiculously viral.

Keep scrolling to reminisce on all the times the stars' plans have been derailed by a tiny visitor.

Millions of moths almost derailed the Sydney Olympics

Minutes into the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics, workers at the Bureau of Meteorology noticed a growing blip on the radar.

After having assured attendees Sydney would be under clear skies for the event, workers began to panic as the rain got closer.

But they soon realised it wasn't rain causing the blip, but rather a swarm of millions of moths attracted to the stadium's lights. 

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Opera singer Yvonne Kenny was performing as the moth swarm reached the stadium and a single bug landed on her stomach.

"I'd prepared the dress, my hair, everything, the hymn. But you don't have ultimate control," she recalled in a 2020 interview with ABC News.

"Life presents you with something unexpected and you have to take it in your stride and not take it too seriously."

Emma Stone and the Cannes bee

During the Eddington premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025, Emma Stone and her Eddington co-stars Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Ari Aster were interrupted be a fame-seeking bee on the famous French red carpet.

Stone was the first to notice the bee flying around her head, instantly recoiling as Pascal and Butler caught onto what was happening.

Pascal and Butler quickly tried to help the situation with Pascal trying to swat the bee while Butler was seen attempting to blow it away.

After a few moments of panic, the bee flew away and the group managed to recover and get back to their red carpet duties.

Butler reflected on the hilarious Cannes red carpet moment in a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.

"[Stone] said, 'Bee, bee, bee' and then I look and there's actually a bumblebee," Butler recalled.

"And then Pedro starts laughing and I started blowing the bee away, that was my reaction.

"I didn't want to hurt the bee, but it kind of looks like I'm blowing the bee at her."

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Austin Butler seems to be attracting bugs

If we had a dollar for every time Austin Butler has been attacked by a bug on a red carpet, we'd have $2. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice (in a row!).

Following his Eddington press tour, Butler embarked on his Caught Stealing press tour with co-star Zoe Kravitz, where another bug managed to track him down.

At the UK gala screening of the film, the pair were posing for pictures with director Darren Aronofsky when a bee joined in on the action.

The bee flew around the stars' faces as they stood against the media wall. Butler could be seen gently interacting with it as it hung around, eventually flying off only to soon return.

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"It's back," Kravitz was heard saying as she attempted to swat the bee away from her face.

Eventually the actress walked off the red carpet after the bee flew into her face.

"I'm out of here," she said.

Jennifer Lopez vs cricket

Earlier this month, Jennifer Lopez was interrupted mid-song by an unexpected on-stage guest – a giant cricket.

As she sang the final notes of a song during her concert in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the bug landed on the singer's chest and began to slowly crawl up towards her neck.

Grossed out, some of the crowd screamed as the bug made its way towards the singer's face but Lopez, 56, appeared completely unfazed.

The bug continued to crawl up her dress until it reached the skin of her neck.

Ever the professional, Lopez ignored the bug as she finished the song.

Then with perfect timing, the singer expertly flicked the bug away with the last beat of the song.

The crowd laughed and cheered as she handled the crawling critter, and J.Lo laughed along with them as she brushed her neck where the cricket had been.

"He was tickling me," she told the crowd calmly before continuing the show.

Even Taylor Swift has been upstaged by a bug

During Taylor Swift's Milan stop on the Eras Tour in 2024, she was interrupted mid-song by a bug with no appreciation for the amount of money Swifties had paid to be inside that stadium.

The singer was on stage singing a surprise mashup of I Almost Do and The Moment I Knew when she suddenly began coughing, explaining she had swallowed a bug.

"I knew it would happen 'cause there's so many bugs here tonight," she told the crowd, who reacted out of concern.

"It'll be fine, I just need to cough a little," she added before turning away to do just that.

The same thing happened a month prior when the singer swallowed a bug on stage during her Eras Tour show in London and a year earlier during her Chicago concert in 2023.

The infamous Met Gala cockroach

One of the most talked-about Met Gala moments in recent years had nothing to do with the celebrities at the event.

For the 2023 gala, one surprise guest had photographers scrambling to get a picture.

A cockroach scurried up the steps of the red carpet, sending photographers and reporters into a frenzy, as per a 22-second video from Variety.

The surprise cameo quickly became the talk of everyone watching from home. But sadly, the roach didn't get to party inside the event with the stars.

In a follow-up post to X (formerly Twitter), Variety announced: "It is with deep sadness that we must report the #MetGala cockroach was stepped on."

RIP Met Gala roach, you'll live on in internet memes forever. 

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Mike Pence and the fly

Mike Pence and Kamala Harris were upstaged by the smallest of guests during the 2020 vice presidential debate.

A fly arrived on the stage, ignoring the social distancing guidelines that were very firmly in place at the time, and made itself right at home in Pence's hair while he spoke.

The fly soon became a social media sensation.

Soon after, Harris (reluctantly) addressed the viral moment, confirming that, yes, she was aware of her Republican opponent's little winged friend.

US TV host Rachel Maddow couldn't resist raising the topic during an interview with the Democratic nominee, admitting she would "kick herself" if she didn't.

"We could see [the fly] at home, could you see it sitting next to him?" she asked.

Clearly not wanting to wade too far into the matter, Harris simply pressed her lips together and nodded her head, prompting Maddow to crack up laughing.

"Did you have the instinct to...?" the Rachel Maddow Show host continued, as she mimed swatting a fly.

"You know, Rachel, I think that it's important that we kind of find a way for all of us to move on and, you know, kind of... fly away from this subject onto something else."

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Title: All the times celebrities have been upstaged by the smallest of surprise guests - otherwise known as bugs
Sourced From: celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/celebrites-upstaged-by-bugs-insects-red-carpet-concert/5bc38b73-293a-4c03-a1a9-8fab566c52ca
Published Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:08:00 GMT