Cynthia Erivo didn’t think twice when she saw someone rush up to Ariana Grande and grab him Bad: forever premiered last week in Singapore.
Appears on the Today On Thursday, November 20, the actress – who plays Elphaba – revealed that she acted on pure instinct when the incident occurred.
“I was really thinking, I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe,” Erivo, 38, responded when asked about the altercation by Savana Guthrie.
“I’m sure he 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 added.
The incident took place as Erivo and Grande, 32, walked across the yellow brick road carpet for the film’s premiere on November 13 in Singapore. A man, who later identified himself on Instagram as Pajama Man (real name Johnson Wen), jumped over the ropes and ran towards the pop star.
Erivo took action even before the bodyguards, placing herself between her co-star and the man, repeatedly telling him to “get off her!”
While their co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum looked on in shock, bodyguards were eventually able to escort the man off the red carpet.
The attacker was soon arrested in Singapore and charged with public nuisance. He was sentenced to nine days in jail, per The New York Times.
