An Australian who jumped over a barricade and grabbed Hollywood star Ariana Grande has been deported and expelled from Singapore.
Johnson Wen, 26, was sentenced to nine days in prison for public nuisance and is now “banned from re-entering Singapore”, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) told local media.
Wen shoved photographers and attacked the actress and singer, who was attending the Asian premiere of Wicked: For Good on November 13. Co-star Cynthia Erivo distanced him from Grande.
Wen has a history of disrupting celebrity concerts and events, including jumping on stage at Katy Perry’s concert in Sydney in June this year.
The incident sparked outrage in Singapore, with many accusing him of re-traumatising Grande.
The pop star has spoken of suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after a suicide bomb attack at her concert in Manchester in May 2017 killed 22 people and injured hundreds.
During Wen’s trial, the court heard that he had tried to interfere with the film’s premiere twice, according to Singapore media.
He then made a second attempt to jump over the barricades. Security personnel detained him and restrained him.
Wen later posted videos thanking Grande for letting him on the carpet and said he was “free.”
Police arrested him the next day and charged him with disorderly conduct, to which Wen pleaded guilty.
District Judge Christopher Goh was quoted by Channel News Asia as saying Wen was “seeking attention”, adding that he was wrong to think he would not suffer any consequences.
Grande has not commented on the case.
Erivo spoke about the incident with NBC, saying she “just wanted to make sure my friend was safe.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt us, but you never know with those things, and I wanted to make sure she was okay. That was my first instinct,” she said.
