Well, that’s not what anyone expected. Former Gossip Girl star turned musician Taylor Momsen was playing a gig in Spain with her band The Pretty Reckless when an actual, real-life bat landed on her leg mid-song.
The band were opening for AC/DC in Seville, Spain on May 29 when the bat decided that Taylor‘s thigh would be a pretty great place to hang out. She had no idea that the nocturnal dude was there until audience members started pointing at her leg, prompting her to glance down and see the bat clinging on just below her dress.
“There’s a fucking flying bat on my leg right now,” she told the crowd in a remarkably chill tone.
“Can someone get me help please?”
It took a few seconds for the flummoxed crew members to get the bat off which is honestly fair enough. I doubt bat removal is covered in the backstage roadie handbook. But once he did, Taylor brushed off the whole thing like a fkn champ with one punter even heard yelling “muy professional” which for those who haven’t done 412 days of consecutive Duo Lingo Spanish, that’s “very professional” in English. You’re fkn welcome.
“Gracias!” Taylor responded.
“It’s alright. And the bat’s fine. He’s gonna be my new friend,” she said, before continuing on with the show.
It wasn’t until a few days later that Taylor revealed that she was actually ~bitten~ by the nighttime pigeon. In a post on Instagram, Little J shared the bat girl chronicles, documenting the batshit scenario with a few cheeky videos.
“So…ROCK AND ROLL MOMENT…in Sevilla Wednesday during “Witches Burn” of all songs… a BAT 🦇 🦇 flew onto me and clung to my leg,” she wrote.
“In the moment I was performing and had no idea until the incredible crowd kept screaming and pointing…he was cute, but yes he bit me…so rabies shots for the next two weeks.
“Thanks to all the staff at the hospital who dubbed me “bat girl” after seeing it on the local news that morning…more footage to come…that’s one for the books!!!”
You can watch the video below.
Despite the bat being very cute, getting bitten by a bat is no joke because they can carry a whole host of diseases. In Spain, bats can carry rabies, a viral disease which spreads through scratches and bites from wild animals. Without treatment, it’s fatal but thankfully, it can be treated by a bunch of vaccines and a cheeky dose of the human rabies immune globulin administered ASAP.
So, now to make sure Taylor stays rabies-free, she has to have injections for two weeks straight. Rough stuff!
It’s worth noting that according to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, there is no rabies in Australia but I’d still stay the fuck away from getting bitten by wild bats on Aussie soil if I were you because they can still carry other yucky and dangerous diseases.
