Peter Kay has issued a statement after removing hecklers from his gig.
The 51-year-old comedian’s Better Late Than Never Again! tour was thrown into chaos over the weekend. He was slammed after kicking out two hecklers from his show at Manchester’s AO Arena on Saturday night (February 8).
He also compared one of the hecklers, a female fan, to Emmerdale star Lisa Riley. Kay has now addressed the controversy in a post on Instagram, insisting he tried his best to ignore the hecklers but it was “impossible to continue”.
He wrote: “At the show on Saturday night, February 8th, in Manchester, I had two hecklers disrupting from the very start. I did my best to address the situation and made light of it, as any comedian would. But unfortunately, their interruptions continued.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I then tried to ignore them, hoping they’d settle down, but when the disruption persisted into the second half of the show, I asked the audience around them if they were bothered by the noise.
“They all shouted ‘yes’ and when I asked for a show of hands, at least forty people raised theirs. At that point, I had no choice but to take action.”
(Image: Peter Kay/Instagram)
The Phoenix Nights star insisted his comparison to Lisa Riley wasn’t an “insult” and that the female audience member simply looked a lot like the actress. “The lady who was escorted out did bear a striking resemblance to Lisa Riley, though I don’t see how that’s an insult,” he said.
Riley herself has said she’s “not offended” by the joke, telling fans: “Please draw a line under this now. I am not offended, never was offended. I love Peter Kay to pieces. Laughter is my favourite medicine.” However, Myar Curran, the fan, said she is “annoyed and upset” by it.
Kay added in the statement: “This was only the second and third time I’ve had to ask someone to leave during my 114 shows over the past three years of this tour. As a comedian, you never want to eject anyone, but when repeated disruptions make it impossible to continue, it’s important to consider the experience of the rest of the audience, who’ve paid to see a show without interruption.”
(Image: Myar Curran/MEN MEDIA)
The female audience member was escorted out when she shouted out “We love you Peter Kay”. The male heckler was removed when he kept shouting the comedian’s famous “garlic bread” catchphrase.
One audience member told Mail Online: “The whole thing just feels very nasty and bitter. His performance was poor but the way he dealt with one heckler and someone shouting “we love you” was ridiculous. My friend and I left the show after that, half an hour early. Others left the show early too.”
(Image: FilmMagic)
Another audience member claimed Kay had “shouted” at the hecklers for “a good three to five minutes” during the show. They said the audience was mixed in their reaction, telling the Manchester Evening News: “Some couldn’t believe it and were obviously annoyed and others were laughing, either thinking it was part of the show or going along with it.”
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
