Romesh Ranganathan Heckled With Racist Abuse At His Stand-Up Show
The comic and Weakest Link presenter was on the opening night of a rescheduled tour
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan was forced to ask security to eject an audience member from his stand-up show last night after reportedly being subjected to a tide of racist abuse.
The first night of Romesh's Cynics Mixtape Tour - rescheduled from 2019 - took place at the Hammersmith Apollo in London last night, but turned sour after the comic and Weakest Link presenter faced abuse described by some in the crowd as 'frankly horrendous'.
The Sun obtained one video from the incident, which shows Romesh confront the racist who, at one stage, was on her feet heckling him.
The clip continues with the 43-year-old saying: "Wait listen, I'm getting distracted. You're going to have to shut the f*** up. What's going on?
"Am I being a p***k here? Why are you stood up, what's going on?"
The woman was then approached by security to make her leave the arena, at which point the crowd starts cheering and singing 'cheer-io, cheer-io, cheer-io' as the woman is led away.
Gathering himself after the commotion, Romesh is seen saying: "I've got really mixed feelings about that, as I was finding that very distracting, so I apologise for that.
"And so I'm glad that's been dealt with.
"But also I'm slightly sad that's the most excited you've sounded all evening.
"That's the biggest response anything tonight has got - buzzing your t**s off that some women has got ejected."
As the video carries on, a concerned Romesh asks the audience if he made the right call: "Can I just ask, was I out of order there? It was really distracting.
"Ok cool, shall we just carry on? Let's carry on."
The crowd's fevered response then leads him to say: "You're making me feel like the little engine that could now."
One punter told The Sun a joke Romesh made about racism in football lit the touch paper, with the comic quipping: "I'd rather be a P**i than a Scouse."
A male audience member then allegedly kept shouting out "Millwall!" to which the Romesh replied: "Why are you letting everyone know you are a racist?"
This is what apparently got the lady who was ultimately ejected going.
"Romesh said to the Millwall guy 'I don't actually know you are racist, I am sure you are a nice guy,'" said the source.
"But the lady at the front started yelling racist abuse and that he was sending her to sleep and so on, she was stood up pointing to him.
"Then another man shouts out 'Hip-Hop coconut'.
"It was awful blatant racism but Romesh handled it really well."
LADbible has contacted reps for Romesh Ranganathan for a comment.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Celebrity, Comedy, Romesh Ranganathan
Simon Catling