Jack Whitehall Describes Scary Moment He Was Attacked On Stage But Security Thought It Was A Joke

Jack Whitehall has opened up about the time he was attacked on stage by an audience member.

Will Smith took to the stage not just once – to collect his Best Actor Oscar for King Richard – but also to slap Chris Rock after the comedian made a 'GI Jane 2' joke about wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

The moment has become the most talked-about moment of the 94th Academy Awards.

However, such altercations are apparently fairly common, with British comedian and actor Jack Whitehall having revealed a similar past experience that his security didn't even react to because they thought it was 'part of the show'.

While he noted it was 'the only time anyone has ever actually got up on stage' with him, Whitehall explained how 'scary' it was.

Whitehall had been doing a Christmas show in Bournemouth when one member of a 'large party of industrial gardeners' who had been 'heckling' him 'quite badly' didn't respond well to being picked on.

He told Good Morning Britain: "So I had a guy who was up on stage with me in a headlock. I felt quite vulnerable, but everyone was laughing in the room because they thought it was a bit. And then I caught out the corner of my eye the bouncers on the door, and they were laughing as well because they thought it was a set-up.

"So they wouldn’t have come up to my to my aid and that is slightly the problem with comedians, is when stuff goes wrong on stage, you always just assume that it’s part of a bit because no-one takes comedians seriously."

In the past, Whitehall has faced backlash in relation to some of his jokes.

The 33-year-old has previously spoken out about how he feared he may become a victim of 'cancel culture' because of a joke he made about Little Mix when presenting the 2019 Brit Awards, which saw complaints made to Ofcom.

At the 2018 Brit Awards, the comedian even decided to quickly alter one of his jokes in order to try and avoid too much controversy.

However, he joked to Susanna Reid: "I always thought I pushed it quite far on the Brits, but maybe I didn't put it far enough. I didn't get Olly Murs to snap and come up onto the stage and slap me. I feel like it was a missed opportunity.

"I think hosts now going forward are definitely going to be checking themselves each time they write their monologues, thinking that's happened," he said.

Whitehall's advice to anyone who hosts awards shows is ultimately to 'just be careful who you pick on'.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy/ @jackwhitehall/ Instagram

Topics: Will Smith, Chris Rock, Oscars, Brit Awards

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.