{"id":134327,"date":"2025-11-14T07:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T07:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/134327\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T07:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T07:51:10","slug":"wicked-2-cynthia-erivo-praised-for-bodyguard-reaction-after-fan-grabbed-ariana-grande-at-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/134327\/","title":{"rendered":"Wicked 2: Cynthia Erivo praised for \u2018bodyguard\u2019 reaction after fan grabbed Ariana Grande at premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/news\/strictly-come-dancing-cynthia-erivo-wicked-b2843909.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cynthia Erivo<\/a> is being applauded for her instinct to defend Ariana Grande from a man charging at her at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/fashion\/ariana-grande-cynthia-erivo-wicked-for-good-london-premiere-b2862685.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wicked: For Good premiere<\/a> in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>Viral video of the Thursday incident showed Erivo, 38, rushing to defend her co-star when a fan jumped over the barricade onto the carpet and grabbed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/films\/news\/wicked-part-2-ariana-grande-cynthia-erivo-songs-b2766152.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">singer.<\/a> Erivo immediately jumped in between Grande, 32, and the man to push him away before security intervened. Erivo and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/films\/features\/michelle-yeoh-star-trek-section-31-interview-b2685599.html\">co-star Michelle Yeoh<\/a> then comforted Grande, who was visibly shaken up by the incident.<\/p>\n<p>As the clip began to circulate online, fans were impressed with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/cynthia-erivo-new-york-b2763560.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Erivo\u2019s <\/a>protective behavior, with one calling her a threat for six reasons: \u201cActress. Dancer. Writer. Model. BODYGUARD. As if I couldn\u2019t possibly love her more,\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way that Cynthia immediately went to protect her says a lot about her,\u201d someone else added, while another said: \u201cCynthia truly multi talented. Broadway, silver screen, AND security guard?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the praise for the actor is flowing, other fans are upset that the security guards did not step in faster.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246509894.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Cynthia Erivo is being praised for her reaction to a fan grabbing Ariana Grande on the Wicked: For Good premiere red carpet in Singapore\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Cynthia Erivo is being praised for her reaction to a fan grabbing Ariana Grande on the Wicked: For Good premiere red carpet in Singapore (Getty Images)<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246509962.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Ariana Grande was visibly shaken after a fan grabbed her at the premiere\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Ariana Grande was visibly shaken after a fan grabbed her at the premiere (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile what Cynthia did was commendable, she shouldn&#8217;t have to expose herself to getting attacked when there are actual bodyguards that are PAID to protect the both of them. Why were they so effing slow to act that she had to jump in ???\u201d a fan wrote. Another noted, \u201cThis honestly could have been so much worse&#8230;what was security doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The man who rushed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/music\/news\/ariana-grande-world-tour-wicked-b2815898.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Grande<\/a>, Johnson Wen, posted a video bragging about the confrontation on his Instagram, thanking Grande for \u201cletting\u201d him jump next to her. Wen is notorious for behaving badly at star-studded events. He was even arrested in Australia in June after rushing on stage during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/katy-perry-justin-trudeau-dating-tmz-b2852471.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Katy Perry<\/a> concert. <\/p>\n<p>After the incident, Wen posted on his Instagram story, \u201cI\u2019m free after being arrested.\u201d Instagram users have been quick to reprimand his behavior.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you think this is okay? This is sick! It ruined the experience for fans who dreamed of this moment and put lives at risk. All for pure ego! Seek help,\u201d one slammed in the comments. Another wrote, \u201cYou literally assaulted her. This isn\u2019t a flex, it\u2019s a crime. Shame on you!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The scary scene came after angry fans of the Wicked franchise recently sent threats to Grande for missing the movie\u2019s premiere in Brazil, forcing her to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/films\/news\/ariana-grande-brazil-wicked-premiere-b2858647.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">address them with a statement on Instagram <\/a>saying, \u201cPlease don\u2019t wish danger on us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-134327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}