Wicked co-star speaks out as Ariana Grande pest charged over Singapore premiere ambush
A fan who rushed at Wicked star Ariana Grande on a Singapore red carpet, causing a scuffle with the movie’s co-star Cynthia Erivo, has been charged.
The BBC reported overnight that Australian man Johnson Wen was charged on Friday with being a public nuisance and appeared in a Singapore court.
It came after Wen, who calls himself Pyjama Man, pushed past photographers and charged at Grande while cast members of Wicked: For Good made their way down a yellow carpet to the film’s premiere at Universal Studios Singapore.
Watch the video above.
Videos shared on social media show Wen jumping the barrier and running towards Grande before he grabbed her around the shoulders as she greeted fans.
As Wen, 26, charged at Grande, her co-star Erivo could be seen wrestling the stunned actress away from Wen.
Grande was left visibly shocked as security guards rushed to intervene.
Wen later shared the video on his Instagram account, and captioned the post, “Dear Ariana Grande. Thank you for letting me jump on the yellow carpet with you”.
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Wen was arrested after the incident, which was widely criticised in Singapore and around the world.
He later posted on Instagram that he was “free after being arrested”.
According to local media reports, Wen was not represented in court and intends to plead guilty, per the BBC.
Meanwhile, another Wicked co-star Marissa Bode has taken to TikTok to speak out about so-called fans who cross public figures’ personal boundaries, including hurling items on stage.
She also took aim at anyone who supported them.
“‘But they’re a fan!'” she began one video. “OK. Then they’re a fan and a loser,” she said.
The actress also touched on ‘parasociality’ – the one-sided, psychological relationship a person can form with a public figure or character they don’t know personally, and criticised Wen and others who posted clips of their actions for views.
“This is what I mean when I say social media brings out the worst in people,” she said.
“Oh, did you get your views? Did you get your likes? Guess what you also did? You made somebody feel incredibly unsafe, but just – no remorse.
“[If] that goes over your head. You’re a bad person.”
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It emerged yesterday that Wen was the same serial pest who told the Fifi, Fev & Nick show last October that he planned to continue disrupting major global events.
The interview came after he ran onstage during The Weeknd’s concert at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
Wen had previously disrupted the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final in Sydney and the ICC Cricket World Cup Final.
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