SINGAPORE: At the Asia premiere of Wicked: For Good in Singapore on Thursday (Nov 13), Ariana Grande, who plays one of the movie’s leading roles, was accosted by a man who jumped over a barricade. The incident left Grande and her co-stars, including Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, visibly upset, and fans who came to the event can be heard calling out to the actress to ask if she was all right.
The man who upset Grande is now in jail, which has come as a surprise to some outside Singapore.
Clips from the incident spread quickly all over the internet, showing Cynthia Erivo, the film’s other lead actress, quickly jumping in to shield Grande and push the man away from her.
@wheninmanila Man jumps over the barricade to run to Ariana Grande at the yellow carpet of the “Wicked: For Good” premiere in Singapore. We are so relieved she’s alright! #arianagrande #wickedforgood #wheninmanila
Since then, the man responsible for the incident, Johnson Wen, has been arrested. On Monday (Nov 17), the 26-year-old Australian national was sentenced to one week in jail after he pleaded guilty to one charge of being a public nuisance.
Wen has been described as a “serial intruder.” Earlier this year, he was charged in Sydney after he interrupted a Katy Perry concert. Videos of the Australian crashing the FIFA Women’s World Cup and concerts from The Weeknd and the Chainsmokers are featured in an Instagram account under his name. He also disrupted an event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
In Singapore, his “attention-seeking” ways were reprimanded by District Judge Christopher Goh, who told him that his act would not escape consequences.
“It was fortunate that something bad did not occur,” said Judge Goh, who scolded Wen for “thinking only of yourself and not the safety of others when committing these acts.”
Given Grande’s enormous popularity and the success of the first Wicked film last year, the incident made international headlines. The LA Times, however, focused on one thing: how quickly the wheels of justice spin in Singapore, as opposed, perhaps, to almost any other country.
The LA Times piece, written by Christie D’Zurilla and headlined “That was fast: Man who accosted Ariana Grande last week is serving time already in Singapore,” made much of the fact that Wen has already been imprisoned.
“The law works quickly in Singapore, where last week an Australian man with a habit of disrupting events charged at Ariana Grande after jumping a barrier at the Asian premiere of Wicked: For Good. This week, he’s already serving his sentence for the offence,” it reads.
Many of the commenters appeared to agree.
“They don’t muck around in Southeast Asian countries when it comes to expeditious trials,” wrote one.
“This is the way the US criminal Justice system should work,” added another.
One simply wrote, “I mean, it’s Singapore.” /TISG
Read also: Man caught scaring Ariana Grande at Singapore Wicked premiere to be charged with public nuisance
