The man who jumped over a barricade and grabbed Ariana Grande at the Asian premiere of “Wicked: For Good” in Singapore has been charged in court for being a public nuisance
Singer turned movie star Ariana Grande was grabbed in shocking scenes as she walked the red carpet for the premiere of Wicked: For Good in Singapore.
The 32-year-old was greeting fans from the yellow carpet event when a fan, who has been named as Johnson Wen, suddenly ran towards her and put his arm around her shoulders. This prompted her co-star Cynthia Erivo, 38, to leap into action and push the man away from the bewildered pop star.
In the clip Cynthia, who plays Elphaba to Ariana’s Glinda in the second part of the hit movie which is released in UK cinemas on November 21, is heard shouting: “Get off!” before putting a protective arm around her colleague.
Posting the clip online to his 9,000 followers, he wrote: “@arianagrande @wickedmovie Dear Ariana Grande Thank You for letting me Jump on the Yellow Carpet with You.”
In his bio, he also wrote the words ‘Ariana Grande is the Queen.’ Wen pulled a similar stunt with a shocked Katy Perry who kept her cool but pulled away from him as he suddenly joined her on stage during a gig in Sydney in June.
He has now been charged with being a public nuisance in Singapore. If convicted, Wen could be hit with a fine of up to S$2000 (£1,100). Local press reports suggest that Wen plans to plead guilty.
The 26-year-old Aussie, known as Pyjama Man on Instagram, frequently shares posts about getting up close and personal with celebs at events and premieres. On his Instagram story on Thursday, Wen announced that he was “free after being arrested.”
Wen’s behaviour towards Grande sparked fury on social media. Undettered, Wen posted about his exploits online under the caption: “Dear Ariana Grande Thank You for letting me Jump on the Yellow Carpet with You” and was inundated with critical comments.
“Oh wow so you do this a lot… how aren’t you in jail?” asked one follower.
Another added: “There needs to be an action done against him as this is clearly a criminal offence.”
Grande, Erivo and the remainder of the “Wicked: For Good” cast are on a global tour promoting the musical film with the final stop taking place in New York City on Monday.
This Morning presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary discussed the incident on Friday’s (November 14) programme, with regular panellists Tim Campbell and Sonia Sodha offering their thoughts.
After viewing footage of the moment, Dermot said: “I get it when people get excited seeing their idols, but that wasn’t that. That was entitlement. That was a guy trying to get on Instagram or TikTok or whatever.”
Sonia continued: “He’s got a track record of it. He’s done it again and again. He’s done it several times. I think it’s incredibly disrespectful, it’s a security risk. It’s horrible for the stars. It was [Ariana’s] concert in the Manchester Arena in 2017 that was bombed, and she’s talked about how she suffered from PTSD after that. And to inflict that on her, I think it’s quite disgusting.”
Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads