LONDON - Pop queen Madonna said she was alright after suffering a bad fall while performing at the Brit Awards in London.
She blamed the Armani cape she was wearing during the performance for the tumble down some steps on Wednesday.
"Armani hooked me up! My beautiful cape was tied too tight! But nothing can stop me and love really lifted me up! Thanks for your good wishes! I'm fine!" she wrote on Instagram after the show.
Reports said she was performing her new single Living For Love, flanked by male dancers wearing horns, when the mishap occurred.
She was walking up a flight of stairs and trying to untie the huge cape when a dancer apparently tried to pull it off.
That sent her flying backwards, pulled at the neck, down the steps.
But the 56-year-old gamely removed the cape, and continued the performance to close the show.
The song ironically includes a lyric, "I'm gonna carry on/ Lifted me up, and watched me stumble/ After the heartache, I'm gonna carry on."
It was the the first time in 20 years that Madonna performed at the awards show, where British singers Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith took two prizes each on Wednesday.
Twitter reacted both with praise for her professionalism in carrying on to sing after the fall and with the usual jokes and memes mocking her spill.
"Tell you what though not many artists would carry on after that fall, well done Madonna for being a trooper and carrying on," wrote one of her supporters.
Some of those who found humour in the near-disaster referred to Madonna's supposed rivalry with Lady Gaga, who had just announced that she would star in American Horror Story: Hotel, the fifth season of the series premiering in October.
"Lady Gaga announces AHS Hotel and Madonna falls on the stage a few hours later. Coincidence? I think not!" wrote a Twitter user.
The malfunctioning cape was not spared. "Whoever designed that costume is sacked haha!," went a comment.
Madonna joins other celebrities whose unscripted falls often steal the limelight at awards shows and other events.
Actress Jennifer Lawrence fell twice at the Oscars. In 2013, she tripped on the steps going up to collect her Best Actress award, and last year, she was in a long gown when she stumbled on the red carpet.
In 2008, Katy Perry chose to dive into a cake while performing at the Latin America Awards in Mexico. She slipped and fell on the icing three times, and was forced to crawl off stage.
Actress Helen Mirren was in a floor-sweeping dress when she fell on the red-carpeted steps at the Berlin film festival this month. And rapper Iggy Azalea tumbled off the stage while performing at a pre-MTV Video Music Awards concert last year. Like Madonna, she went on singing.
At Wednesday's awards, Sheeran, 24, won for Best British Solo Artist and the Best Album prize for his album, X. Smith, 22, topped off his recent four Grammy wins with a Global Success award and a British Breakthrough trophy.
Winners also included Paloma Faith for Best British Female Artist and rock duo Royal Blood, who defeated boy band One Direction to be named the best British band. The Best International Female Artist title went to Taylor Swift, who performed with others like Take That, Kanye West and George Ezra.
