OMG! Drew Barrymore had to be rushed off a stage in NYC after an alleged stalker popped up, shouting, “You know who I am!”
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The scary incident, also caught on a viral video, happened while Barrymore was onstage leading a conversation with with 23-year-old singer and actor Reneé Rapp, the star of ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls.’ As the two conducted a live Q&A at New York City’s 92nd Street Y cultural center on Monday (August 21), what at first appeared to be an eager fan walking towards the stage, turned out to be a crazed fan/Barrymore’s alleged stalker.
As the man interrupted the Q&A and approached the stage, he yelled out at the 48-year-old ‘Charlie’s Angels‘ actress and talk show host, “Drew Barrymore!” The man clearly caught her off-guard and she just said in the microphone, “Oh, my God! Yes! Hi!” The man continued to approach the stage while shouting his name, Chad Michael Busto, and adding, “You know who I am. I need to see you at some point while you’re in New York, OK?”
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Rapp immediately became startled and jumped up out of her seat while grabbing Barrymore and rushing her off the NYC stage. Two men, who appeared to be security guards, are then seen approaching the man and attempting to escort him away from the event.
After the coast was clear, Barrymore and Rapp returned to the stage as the people in the audience applauded for their safe return and for security acting bravely and quickly to whisk the man away. Upon their return to the stage, Rapp said, “By the way, just to be clear, the second they were like, ‘Ok, we’re good,’ I was like, ‘Hey, do you need anything, do you need to sit?’ She was like, ‘Oh, no, I got it — I’m good.'”
Once back on stage, Barrymore said to Rapp, “Well, I have a new definition of your sexiness, it’s that level of protectiveness. That went full ‘Bodyguard.’”
Barrymore got up from her seat and then went to hug Rapp, while praising her. She added, “You’re my Kevin Costner!,” referencing Costner’s infamous movie where he played a bodyguard hired to protect Whitney Houston‘s character from a stalker in the 1992 feature film, ‘The Bodyguard.’ Rapp laughed and said, “I’ll be that.”
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It’s reported that it is unclear as whether or not the alleged stalker knew or previously met Barrymore before causing her to be rushed off the NYC stage. However, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press, Busto has a bit of rap sheet with law enforcement. In 2009, he reportedly was arrested for resisting officers, and has previously been hit with multiple disorderly conduct and trespassing arrests in Georgia, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida.
His arrests also include indecent exposure, theft, harassment and more. It’s also reported that Busto also stalked actress Amber Heard in the past. The Daily Beast reports that Busto was allegedly banned form an online fan forum after being accused of “stalking,” “sexual harassment,” and “threats.”
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