Cynthia Explains Why She Protected Ariana When A Wicked Fan Attacked
The perpetrator has since been given a jail sentence.
The Wicked: For Good press tour took a turn for the worse at the movie’s Singapore premiere, and now Cynthia Erivo is opening about about the scary incident. At the Nov. 13 red carpet, a man jumped the barricade and put his arms around Ariana Grande, causing her to look shocked and fearful. Thankfully, Erivo acted quickly in pushing the perpetrator away. A clip of the moment has since gone viral.
“I wasn’t really thinking,” Erivo told Today on Nov. 20. “I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean us harm, but you never know with those things,” she added. “I wanted to make sure that she was OK. That was my first instinct.”
Erivo first spoke about the tense experience for the first time at a Nov. 15 screening of the movie, per Entertainment Weekly. While reflecting on her bond with Grande, Erivo referenced the recent attack.
“I had to look into the eyes of this person beside me. And we have come through some sh*t,” Erivo said. “We have come through some stuff in our lives, in our daily workings. I mean, f*ck, even this last week. Let’s be honest, for f*ck’s sakes, we’ve had to really deal with some stuff, and this movie has allowed us to really grow as people, as friends, as sisters, as artists, as actresses.”
The man who rushed Grande has been identified as Johnson Wen, a self-described “troll” who has a history of disrupting concerts and sporting events by running onto the stage or field.
On Nov. 17, Wen was found guilty of public nuisance charges in a Singapore court and sentenced to nine days in jail.
Wen’s latest viral moment has received widespread backlash online, especially since Grande has been open about dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder following a bombing at her 2017 Manchester concert that claimed the lives of 22 fans. Grande has not yet spoken about the red carpet incident.
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