Now we can officially call this a media circus – as if it wasn’t before. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and his son, News Corp. deputy COO James Murdoch’s appearances before the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee in Parliament 7/19 came to a dramatic 20-minue halt after comedian Jonnie Marbles tossed a pie or shaving cream at Murdoch.
Rupert’s wife Wendi Deng Murdoch quickly leapt to her feet and struck out at the attacker before he was knocked to the ground. According to people Tweeting in the room, Deng threw the pie right back at him.
Murdoch sat motionless with flecks of white on his dark suit while news pictures showed police officers talking to the handcuffed attacker in the corridors outside the room.
As the video shows, Deng laughed as she attacked Marbles and was much quicker than security and police in the room:
CNN International reports he called Murdoch a “greedy billionaire.” Marbles has been arrested and taken away.
The session got back under way less than 20 minutes after. Committee chairman Tom Watson closed the two-hour session with a compliment: “Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook.”
Watson thanked Rupert for giving up so much time and putting up with the “wholly unacceptable attack by a member of the public,” Rupert said: “Thank you Mr. Chairman, not a problem.”
Marbles Tweeted shortly before tossing the pie, “It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat.”
RBR-TVBR observation: All in all, the Murdochs were probably happy to get a bit of comic relief right about then. But obviously security is lacking at these hearings. What was “Marbles” doing in the room anyway? Seems just about any nutcase could have jumped in and attacked Murdoch in the setting the video shows. Good his wife was there, because indeed, she’s a much better defender than the police in the room.
