On Tuesday, while the British Parliament was hearing the testimony of News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch on the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, comedian and activist Jonnie Marbles — whose real name is Jonathan May-Bowles — took the spotlight for a brief moment.
He reportedly catapulted from the stands with a pie to attack Murdoch, apparently calling him a “greedy billionaire.” Murdoch’s wife, Wendi Deng, and his son, James Murdoch, leapt to his defense.
While Rupert Murdoch was unharmed in the shuffle, Jonnie Marbles was taken from court and detained.
STORY: Rupert Murdoch Hearing Briefly Suspended After Pie Thrown at Him (Video)
Who is this alleged pie-wielding assailant? Here are five things to know.
1. Marbles’ Twitter account had 8,845 follower right after his appearance at Parliament. About ten minutes before the attack, Marbles tweeted, “It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat” He describes himself as an “activist, comedian, father figure and all-round nonsense.”
2. Marbles hosts a blog, where he writes and rants on politics. He also posts a video of himself burning his voting ballot because he feels that his vote does not count. He hasn’t posted on the blog since February 2011. In this video he says he lives in Windsor, an affluent suburb in the western outskirts of London.
3. Marbles calls himself a comedian, and is featured in a handful of internet sketches. In one video for Random Report TV, he does a comedy routine from a bus.
PHOTOS: News of the World’s Top 10 Scandals
4. Marbles’ is apparently associated with the activist group UK Uncut, but the group spoke out on Twitter to emphasize that they were not working with him on the pie-attack. “The pie in Murdoch’s face was NOT a UK Uncut action, everyone!” they Tweeted.
5. Marbles’ ex-girlfriend was bombarded with Twitter requests after the event. She tweeted, “Um. Yes. That was my ex-boyfriend who just custard pied Rupert Murdoch.” She later tweeted, “I always knew my love life was a joke.” It seems that news outlets were already going after her for an interview. “Just got an email from CNN,” she wrote. However, she later Tweeted that she was “not going to do the interview.”
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