Incident at Singapore Premiere
On November 13, an incident occurred during the Asian premiere of Wicked: For Good in Singapore involving Australian national Johnson Wen, 26, and actress-singer Ariana Grande. Wen reportedly pushed past photographers and approached Grande. Co-star Cynthia Erivo intervened to separate Wen from Grande.
During the event, Wen made a second attempt to bypass barricades, at which point security personnel detained him.
Legal Proceedings and Outcome
Following the incident, Wen was arrested and subsequently charged with public nuisance. He pleaded guilty to the charge. District Judge Christopher Goh, presiding over the case, described Wen's actions as "attention seeking," according to Channel News Asia.
Wen was sentenced to nine days in prison. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) confirmed that Wen has been "barred from re-entering Singapore" and has been deported.
Background and Context
Wen has a documented history of disrupting public events involving celebrities, including a prior incident at a Katy Perry concert in Sydney in June.
Before his arrest, Wen posted videos online expressing gratitude to Grande for allowing him onto the red carpet and stated he was "free."
Grande has not publicly commented on the incident. Cynthia Erivo, in a statement to NBC, said her primary concern was Grande's safety, adding, "I'm sure he didn't mean us harm, but you never know with those things, and I wanted to make sure that she was OK. That was my first instinct."
This incident occurred in the context of Grande having previously discussed experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder after a 2017 concert in Manchester was targeted by a suicide bomb attack.