Fight breaks out at comedy gig after audience members 'get angry with persistent heckler'
1 April 2025, 09:46 | Updated: 1 April 2025, 10:00
A fight broke during Paul Chowdhry's comedy gig in Southend over the weekend, after members of the audience grew angry at a heckler.
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The comedian, who was performing at Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea when the chaos kicked off, compared the brawl to "the end of a boxing event".
Emotions boiled over due to an audience member constantly heckling Chowdhry during his set.
Sharing a clip of the man on Instagram, he said: "I'm gonna take a picture and make sure you're never gonna get back in."
As the show came to an end, "customers expressed their frustration towards another customer", with a fight breaking out in the crowd.
Police were called to the venue to defuse the situation.
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Chowdhry said in a statement to the BBC: "We live in a time when some people feel entitled to disrupt live performances, affecting the experience for everyone else.
"Let me be absolutely clear: I do not condone violence in any form.
"Live entertainment should be a space where people come together to enjoy and engage - not to create conflict.
"Hopefully, nothing like this happens at the O2 Arena in London this Thursday - it's a little trickier managing 10,000 people."
A spokesperson from Trafalgar Entertainment, which runs the theatre, said: "We are aware of the incident following Paul Chowdhry's performance at the Cliffs Pavilion on Saturday night.
"A small number of customers expressed their frustration towards another customer who had been heckling the act throughout the evening.
"A physical altercation broke out. Our team responded swiftly to defuse the situation.
"We take the safety of our audiences, staff and performers very seriously and condemn acts of violence and discrimination in the strongest possible terms.
"We will not hesitate to take action, including liaising with the police should this be deemed necessary. We would like to remind all our customers to be respectful to each other, to performers and to our staff at future events."
Essex Police said they were called to the venue just after 9.30pm on Saturday.
"It was reported a fight had broken out and a man was assaulted," the force said.
"No serious injuries were reported, officers attended and inquiries are ongoing."
