Beyonce suffered an epic fall down a flight of stairs, 50 Cent was caught lip syncing and Janet Jackson suffered a “wardrobe malfunction”, but even the most famous onstage disasters can’t match the cake catastrophe that befell Katy Perry last night.

The American singer, 23, who recently ruffled feathers with lipgloss lesbian anthem I Kissed A Girl, finished her routine at the 15th MTV Latin American Awards in Mexico face down in the remains of the award show’s anniversary cake.

Bolstering her risqué reputation, Perry declined to emerge from the four-tier pink gateau, displayed centre stage, and instead, following an enthusiastic rendition of I Kissed A Girl, leapt onto it.

Covered in pink icing, the singer at first appeared pleased with the stunt, peeling cake remains from her body and cheekily throwing them at the audience and her guitarist.

But Perry clearly hadn’t considered the health and safety implications of enormous quantities of icing under stage lights. As she slipped across the floor, she grabbed at her guitarist for support but only succeeded in prolonging the agony and executing a cartoon-like running-on-the-spot move.

She hit the deck face down but laughed off the episode. However, the most embarrassing moment was still to come. With ballet slippers covered in icing sugar and knees resembling cup cakes, the singer could not stand up. Each time she tried, she slid across the stage, hitting the floor over and over again.

Perry finally brought her highly entertaining performance to an end by crawling off the stage on her hands and knees.

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