Chris Pratt Pokes Beehive, Gets Stung in the Eyeball

Marvel movies are known for their stingers, but usually they come after the closing credits. This time, Chris Pratt, star of the Guardians of the Galaxy sub-franchise within the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, took to Instagram late Thursday to detail his recent encounter with a pugilistic bee.

“So I’ve been following this bee lady,” he began with a bit of a grimace from behind dark glasses. “She’s so cool and brave,” he continued, speaking about Erika Thompson of Texas Bee Works. Pratt marveled at how she will approach hives and say “they’re very calm today. I’m going to remove the bee. I’m going to use my bare hands to sift through the bees and look for the queen.”

The 43-year-old star’s admiration then turned to a (joking) condemnation. “It’s built up this false sense of security in me, to where’s I said ‘I think I can control bees, too.’”

You probably know where this is headed. A few days ago, Pratt saw a beehive, approached it, and, despite a bystander’s warning (“be careful, there’s bees!”), the Hollywood A-Lister and former Bubba Gump Shrimp Company employee figured he was invincible. “They look very calm,” he said, because that’s what the bee lady says.

“Then one of them stung me in the eyeball,” he said, before removing his sunglasses to reveal the result of his apoidean tussle—a still puffed-out face. “Anyway, [bleep] that bee lady,” he concluded.

In his caption he tagged Thompson, and wrote “@texasbeeworks you inspire me! But for real tho…”

Thompson, clearly keeping tabs on Pratt’s resumé of forthcoming work, wrote back, “Wait—so now you’re going to be a plumber and a beekeeper @prattprattpratt?! If you leave saving the bees to me and other professionals, you can focus on saving the Princess, Mario.”

Also in the comments, Pratt’s Guardians co-star Pom Klementieff responded with a “Noooooooo” and an “ouch.” Patrick Schwarzenegger fired off an “Lmao,” while UFC president Dana White went even further with an “LMFAO!!!!” Pratt’s The Terminal List co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn was a little more thoughtful with an “OH NO” (and bee emoji) while Sean Hayes came in with an additional sting, asking, “which eye?”

According to the CDC, there is an average 62 deaths per year from bee, wasp, or hornet stings in the United States. Of them, 80 percent of the deaths are among males. To that end, we at V.F. hope that the other Hollywood Chrises learn from Pratt’s error, leave the beekeeping to the professionals, and buy their honey from local vendors.