Someone rushed the stage at a Drew Barrymore and Reneé Rapp talk last night
Barrymore and Rapp were quickly ushered off the stage as the man approached
Aux News Rapp
Drew Barrymore and Reneé Rapp found themselves in a scary situation last night as an overly enthusiastic fan ran up to the stage at the 92nd Street Y where they were giving a talk to promote Rapp’s new album Snow Angel.
In footage posted to TikTok from the event, both women visibly jump as a voice yells “Drew Barrymore!” from the crowd in the middle of the actor’s sentence. The man then goes on to introduce himself as Chad Michael Busto, yelling “You know who I am. I need to see you at some point while you’re in New York,” as he appears to try to get up on stage.
@vidsofceleb Scary moment, thankfully security took care of it. #drewbarrymore #reneerapp
Reneé Rapp then springs into action, shielding Barrymore and walking off stage with her as security guards move to block Busto from getting any closer. The two remain in the wings for only a few seconds as the crowd boos the offender. When they emerge to retake their seats, Barrymore brings back the positive energy of the room with her usual grace and sincerity—the same qualities that make her such a good talk show host. “Well, I have a new definition of your sexiness,” she says to an appropriately chuffed Rapp. “It’s that level of protectiveness. That went full Bodyguard! You are my Kevin Costner!”
“We love you, Drew!” a fan shouts, and all is well.
While this particular encounter resolved with relatively little drama, it certainly fits into the larger trend of stalking and mob-like behavior leveled at mega-stars like Taylor Swift, as well as the more recent, infuriating trend of fans chucking things onstage and occasionally injuring performers at concerts. As stars engage more and more with fans on Tiktok and other social media platforms, it can be easy to forget that they’re not actually friends or people anyone but their own loved ones should have unlimited access to. Hopefully, this type of behavior diminishes before someone gets seriously harmed.
Reps for Drew Barrymore, Reneé Rapp, and 92NY did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story.
10 Comments
The fucking entitlement people have. Imagine watching someone on TV or listening to their album and thinking they owe you their attention. I hope they start increasing the punishment for shit like this.
I think there’s a decent chance here that he’s mentally ill.
That’s… probably true. In that case I would hope that he get’s proper care with appropriate professionals who actually give a damn.
But hey, gotta judge ‘em first, right? That’s more important than empathy.
The guy is a notorious stalker. He was “proposing” to Amber Heard on Twitter constantly. He is unwell.
Chad Michael Nutso
Not surprising it was Busto. He has a history online, particularly on twitter, where he has many accounts and was most recently stalking Amber Heard. He has had multiple run ins with the law, including enticement of children for indecent purposes, indecent exposure, bizarre incidents in two banks in one day where just kind of hung around before handing a teller a note saying, “this really is the real two-hundred million dollars; this is fake.” He apparently has been intermittently homeless and is clearly not mentally well (schizophrenia if I had to guess). For the last couple hours he’s been tweeting at @drewbarrymoretv showing he’s in the Hamptons were Barrymore has a home. Apparently the local police have been alerted by many people at this point.
Dude needs to be institutionalized or taken off the board some other way.
“it certainly fits into the larger trend of stalking and mob-like behavior leveled at mega-stars like Taylor Swift, as well as the more recent, infuriating trend of fans chucking things onstage and occasionally injuring performers at concerts.”Not really. This guy has been a crazy shitbag for years and years.
“it certainly fits into the larger trend of stalking and mob-like behavior leveled at mega-stars”
Yeah, being approached by a notorious stalker is exactly the same as some dickhead fan chucking a water bottle.