Ariana Grande: Assault on the red carpet

On-screen celebrity has evolved in the wake of social media – fans are able to get closer than ever to the lives of those they adore. But where does the boundary lie between being a fan and being unhealthily obsessed with the rich and famous?

One fan crossed that boundary at the weekend, hopping over the barrier and onto the red carpet at the Wicked: For Good premiere in Singapore. Shocking videos show outraged fans as the crazed man, Johnson Wen, ran up to a startled Ariana Grande, grabbed her shoulders and started jumping up and down. Ariana’s costar, Cynthia Erivo, stepped in and forcibly pried him off Grande, before security stepped in and escorted him back into the crowd. He then jumped the barrier again, but was immediately wrestled to the floor.

The Australian was later arrested and sentenced to nine days in prison for public nuisance. Wen had built an online presence for himself as a ‘serial intruder’, posting videos of himself disrupting concerts with similar behaviour. The fact that his crazed fan act has garnered such attention, whether from fans condemning or commending his act, is arguably representative of a much wider issue that all those, and especially women, in the public eye face: a lack of boundaries. 

Wen’s brutal and surprise grasping of Grande shows a dehumanising thought process wherein it is okay to use a celebrity’s body in this violent and uninvited way as a means to gain 15 minutes of fame. In that moment, Grande was not a person but a platform through which Wen could cause scandal, and thereby catapult himself into the spotlight – as he had already done before with other celebrities. His actions did not consider Grande as a person, but as a means to an end.

In the age of social media, public-facing careers are becoming more and more about personal branding – an actor no longer simply goes to work and acts. Their whole life becomes an interactive display which fans follow closely to the extent that often people increasingly struggle to differentiate the art from the artist. People become their careers, their lives walking advertisements to fandoms, played out across social media. And the boundaries blur: where the person starts and the career persona ends is not so clear.

Wen sought to use Grande’s name, and body, for his own personal gain. As a woman and as a celebrity, her body became fair game in his hunt for fame – a mindset that is ultimately informed by a patriarchal view of the female body. After all, Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum were not assaulted, despite being of equal celebrity status. As Grande shrank away from him, she was reduced – his assault physically and symbolically belittling her. And assault is exactly what it was. 

Although he did not physically hurt her, his actions violated her bodily autonomy and consent, causing fear and confusion. Wen’s behaviour undoubtedly crossed a boundary, his obsession with celebrity perpetuating a patriarchal mentality wherein the women’s body loses autonomy. A woman’s body – no matter the fame or public persona that the woman has built for herself – is not a playground for men to use at their discretion, and certainly not for a brief claim to fame.