An The Australian who rushed Film star Ariana Grande, attending the Singapore premiere of her film “Wicked: For Good,” was deported after a nine-day jail sentence, local media reported.
The man, Johnson Wen, was sent back to Australia and “barred from re-entering Singapore”, the city-state's immigration service said in a statement, as quoted by broadcaster CNA.
Grande and other stars were attending the premiere of the highly anticipated film at Universal Studios in Singapore when Wen, 26, jumped over the barricade and lunged at the actor. He hugged Grande.
Viral videos show Grande's co-star, Cynthia Erivo, rushing to her defense, getting between the two of them and pushing him away. Wen was then grabbed by guards and thrown back over the barricade.
The footage shows Erivo and others on the red carpet consoling Grande.
Hours later, Wen was arrested and charged with “disturbing public order.” Last week, the court sentenced him to nine days in prison.
Following the incident, Wen shared a video on Instagram and thanked Grande for “letting (him) jump on the yellow carpet with her.”
Singapore District Judge Christopher Goh, who handed down the prison sentence, described the Australian as an “attention seeker”.
Wen Jiabao, who has allegedly disrupted other global sporting events and concerts, has “exhibited a pattern of behavior” that suggests he would do it again, the judge said before his ruling last week.
The prison term was well below the maximum penalty allowed by law: three months in jail, a $1,500 fine, or both.
Wen told the court he was “wrong” to believe there would be no consequences for his actions and vowed not to repeat the act.
“Evil: For Good” was released in the US on Friday.
Grande and Erivo have been inseparable during the musical's press tours. In December 2024, Erivo told CBS Mornings that the duo entered into an agreement at an early stage of production care and support each other.
“Before we started filming, we both talked about making sure that we were going to take care of each other and give each other the space that we needed and take, you know, give each other what we needed, be generous to each other in this endeavor because we knew it was a big undertaking,” Erivo said. “We knew we had a big responsibility, but we knew none of us could do it alone.”
