Person Who Approached Ariana Grande at Film Launch Barred from Singapore
An individual of Australian nationality who vaulted past a barrier and reached for celebrity Ariana Grande has been expelled and banned from Singapore.
The individual, aged 26, was sentenced to over a week in prison for being a public nuisance and has now been "barred from re-entering Singapore," the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority stated to Singaporean press.
The man shoved past photographers and approached aggressively the performer and artist, who was attending the Asian premier for Wicked: For Good on 13 November. Co-star Cynthia Erivo wrestled him away from Grande.
The individual has a record of disrupting concerts and high-profile gatherings, including jumping on stage at Katy Perry's Sydney concert in the past June.
The occurrence provoked strong reactions in Singapore, with several individuals accusing him of triggering past trauma for the singer.
The singer has mentioned suffering from trauma-related anxiety after a terrorist bombing at her show in the UK city in several years ago killed 22 people and hurt numerous attendees.
During Wen's trial, the court heard he had made efforts to breach on the movie's debut multiple times, according to Singaporean media.
He then made a follow-up try to breach security. Protection personnel stopped him and restrained him.
The man subsequently shared videos expressing gratitude to the star for allowing his presence and said he was "released."
Police arrested him the next day and brought charges against him with public nuisance, to which he confessed.
The District Judge the magistrate was referenced by media reports as saying that Wen was "attention seeking", adding that he was wrong to believe he would not suffer any consequences.
Grande has not addressed the case.
Cynthia Erivo spoke about the situation to the press, saying that she "only aimed to verify my co-star was safe."
"I'm sure he had no intention to us injury, but you can't predict with such situations, and I aimed to confirm that she was OK. That was my first instinct," she commented.
