A Trump supporter in New Jersey threw a can of beer at a comedian while she was performing over the weekend after discovering that she hadn’t voted for the former president in 2020.
Ariel Elias shared a video clip of the viral incident on her personal Twitter account, which occurred on Saturday night when she was doing a set at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club in Point Pleasant Beach.
“To answer the most obvious question, yes, I did pick up what was left of the beer and chug it,” tweeted the New York City-based comedian, who describes herself in her online bio as a “Kentucky Jew”.
According to an interview that Ms Elias gave to Buzzfeed News after the attack, the man who threw the partially full can of beer at her arrived at the seaside bar with a group of about 20 other patrons who appeared to be celebrating some kind of birthday and already appeared to be pretty “rowdy” ahead of her 9.30pm set.
She began the night with a routine of jokes about body image, but then decided to open the set up to a round of Q&As with the crowd.
A woman from the group of rowdy audience members then shot her hand up in the air and asked Ms Elias: “Did you vote for Donald Trump?”
Ms Elias, who told BuzzFeed that she was immediately unsettled by the highly politicised question, then tried to deescalate the interrogation by responding to the question with a joke, and said: “Why would you ask me that knowing I’m the only Jew in this room? Are you trying to get me killed?”
The interaction, unfortunately, didn’t stop there as the prodding guest then shouts back at the comedian: “So you voted for Biden?”
She responds, “I dunno. What does it matter?”
The heckler then uses Ms Elias’s deflection as evidence that she did vote for the Democratic challenger – and the current president – to Mr Trump in the 2020 election and exclaims: “Yes, you did!” before adding, “I could just tell by your jokes you voted for Biden.”
Ms Elias, seizing an opportunity to crack a joke and perhaps steer her set back to its outset goal, quips: “I can tell by the fact that you’re still talking when nobody wants you to that you voted for Trump.”
The New York-based comedian then rallies the already-cheering crowd to continue to make noise if they’d like to show their support for making the vocal patron who has been interrogating the comedian to quiet down.
Her request is met with a round of applause and cheering, and the woman is no longer heard on camera.
Ms Elias then tries to continue with her set and begins to crack a joke about her IUD when, before you can really begin to process what’s happening, a loud thud and splash is seen hitting the brick wall behind her.
A clearly stunned Ms Elias then turns to survey what has just landed against the back wall, mere inches away from where her face was, and scoops up the partially full beer with her jaw left hanging open.
“Are you f***ing kidding me?” equally shaken audience members can be heard saying moments after the beer has been launched onto the stage. “I’m never coming out with this group of people ever again,” another disgruntled guest can be heard saying.
Ms Elias, in an effort to keep the upperhand of her set, then proceeds to chug the partially full beverage on stage after lifting it above her head in a mock-cheers to the audience.
“At first I was in shock. Did that really just happen?” she told Buzzfeed News.
Ms Elias confirmed to the news outlet that one of the members of the rowdy group approached her after her set to apologise on their behalf and another person gave her $20 for her troubles.
The owner of the club, Dino Ibelli, confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the can was thrown by a man who was the partner of the woman who had been asking the prodding questions of the comedian.
That individual, he said, left the club shortly after throwing the can at Ms Elias, but Mr Ibelli said that he’d been in contact with local authorities after he was able to make a positive identification of the suspect.
Ms Elias confirmed on Twitter later that the club is indeed pressing charges against the man who threw the drink at her, and added that there was more positive news to report back:
“Fwiw the club is pressing charges against the guy and booked me to come back in April,” she tweeted on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Point Pleasant Beach Police Department confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the force had been at the New Jersey club on Sunday to collect evidence, which included security footage from the incident.
The virality of the attack on Ms Elias even garnered the attention of Washington DC, including Rep Eric Swalwell, the 41-year-old California Democrat who made a bid for president in 2020.
“This is Trump’s America. They prefer violence over voting. And laughing,” tweeted the Democrat on Sunday. “I don’t care who @Ariel_Comedy voted for. She’s funny and deserved to finish her set. At least she got to finish that beer.”
“This is where we are politically as a country. Elect people that want to unite not divide,” tweeted Matthew Diemer, a Democratic congressional candidate for Ohio’s 7th district.
Fellow comedians and artists also came out to voice their support of the Kentucky-born comedian, while also highlighting how dangerous and fearful it can be to do stand-up in today’s polarising political climate.
“A hero among us,” tweeted actor George Takei, while comedian Robin Tran called out Donald Trump supporters as some of the most fragile audiences she’s ever performed in front of, saying: “They used to call The Comedy Store to ask and make sure nobody would be making fun of Trump that night. Never seen any other group do that before.”
