The man who grabbed Ariana Grande at a red-carpet premiere for Wicked: For Good in Singapore has been jailed for nine days.
According to BBC News, Australian national Johnson Wen was convicted of being a public nuisance. Wen, 26, has a history of disrupting public events and rushing concert stages.
Video footage shows Wen jumping over a barricade at Universal Studios Singapore and rushing at Grande on the red carpet on 13 November. Grande’s co-star Cynthia Erivo immediately stepped in to help protect her and Wen was moved away.
The court heard that after after being removed by security staff Wen made a second attempt to jump the barricades, after which security staff stopped him and pinned him down.
Wen regularly posts on Instagram as pyjamamann, where he has posted footage of stage invasions including those involving Katy Perry and the Weeknd. The footage of his approach to Grande led to a substantial backlash, with many commenters calling his actions a criminal offence.
Grande and co-stars are on a mammoth publicity tour for the Wicked sequel, which is released on 21 November. The review embargo lifts on Tuesday and early reaction has suggested repeat Oscar nominations for the two stars are likely.
Red-carpet invasions are increasingly uncommon as security has tightened over recent years. In 2007, podcaster Cielke Sijben handcuffed herself to Hugh Grant at a premiere of his romcom Music and Lyrics. Firefighters later freed the pair.
Bradley Cooper was accosted on the red carpet in 2014 by a Ukrainian TV prankster who buried his head in the actor’s trousers, having given Will Smith an unsolicited kiss at the Moscow premiere of Men in Black 3 in 2012. Also in 2012, Kim Kardashian was flourbombed at the red carpet event for her perfume launch by a Peta activist who called her a “fur hag”.
