The Wicked: For Good press cycle has not been kind to Ariana Grande. The star was unable to make the movie premiere in São Paulo last week due to flight issues, and subsequently faced a wave of death threats from fans. Yesterday, she was walking the red carpet at the film’s Singapore premiere when she was accosted by the influencer who also stage-crashed Katy Perry in June.
Footage shows Pyjama Man, who has 10,000 followers on Instagram, jumping over a barricade and charging at the singer-actress, putting his arm around her and jumping up and down. Her costar Cynthia Erivo is famously very protective over her, and she intervened along with security to get the man off of Grande. The viral menace then posted the video to Instagram, writing, “@arianagrande @wickedmovie Dear Ariana Grande Thank You for letting me Jump on the Yellow Carpet with You.” He also made an Instagram Story saying he was free after being arrested.
Aside from the obvious fact that you shouldn’t put your hands on people, Grande is a particularly vulnerable victim considering the terrorist bombing at her Manchester concert in 2017 that left 22 dead.
Assaulting celebrities is unfortunately a trend as of late. Last month, Dua Lipa also endured an unwanted physical advance at her Los Angeles show that security prevented from going any further; Billie Eilish was grabbed and shoved at her Miami gig; an audience member rushed 2hollis onstage at his New York performance. Earlier this month in DC, Halsey was groped by a fan and security had to step in. Sad stuff.