The woman removed from Peter Kay’s Manchester performance has lashed out, branding the popular comic a ‘bully’ following a comparison to actress Lisa Riley. During the show on Saturday (February 8) at the AO Arena, Kay stopped his act to remove two spectators.
The first was a man reportedly yelling ‘garlic bread’ repeatedly, followed by a woman shouting ‘we love you, Peter’, both of whom were shown the door by security personnel. Myar Curran, 25, found herself evicted from the audience.
Having attended with her father, aunt, best friend, and boyfriend, Curran had been eagerly anticipating the event, being an ardent fan of the Bolton-born performer. Dressed in a zebra print top, she was thrilled about her first live experience of Kay.
Curran shared with the Manchester Evening News.: “We bought these tickets ages ago so we’ve been waiting years for this. We were so looking forward to it.
“I lost my mum a couple of years ago and she was supposed to come to the show so it was something that was going to be very special to us.” However, after she called out ‘we love you Peter’ in the second half of the show, Kay interrupted his set to instruct security to remove her.
According to Myar, despite sitting near the earlier heckler, she was unrelated to him. As she was led out, Kay jibed from the stage, saying: “Go on, off you go, Lisa Riley.”
Myar, who came from Scotland for the event, later found herself in tears at her hotel due to hurtful remarks and laughter from the audience. “I do feel he was on about my weight,” the mother said.
She drew comparisons with Lisa Riley, acknowledging Riley’s significant weight loss and her own size increase since having a child. “I’m self-conscious about that so to go to a show and feel like you’re having the mick taken out of you because of your weight, I was just a bit shocked. I’m annoyed and upset about it.
“The whole arena was laughing, I think they thought it was part of the show but there was a nastiness to his voice. It was like he was trying to get the crowd against me – it just wasn’t nice, to be honest.”
The incident left her distraught: “I did have a cry about it after I got to the hotel room. I was just so upset. It was just a very rubbish situation. My whole family was disgusted by it.”
In response, Peter issued a statement this morning saying he ‘didn’t realise’ his comment ‘was an insult’. Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he explained: “She did look remarkably like Lisa Riley, I didn’t realise that was an insult.”
Lisa Riley herself has spoken out about the controversy, urging on Instagram: “PLEASE [praying hands emojis] draw a line under this now, I am not offended, never was offended. I love Peter Kay to pieces. Laughter is my favourite medicine.”
Responding to Peter’s recent remarks, Myar expressed her thoughts, saying: “Well, I think he knew exactly what he was doing. If I was a bit skinnier, he wouldn’t have made the comparison. There was no pussyfooting about it, it was definitely about my weight and how I looked.
“You don’t need to take the mick out of somebody for their weight, it’s just out of order really. He used to be a bigger man. It was like he was being a bully – there was a lot of anger and nastiness to it.”
Myar also shared her regrets that Lisa Riley has become inadvertently involved, remarking: “I just don’t want Lisa to think I’m offended by being compared to her,” she clarified.
The incident has soured Myar’s opinion of the comedian, as she firmly stated she will ‘never’ tune into his work again. “It’s just really gutting,” she admitted.
“I might have understood it if I was shouting an insult but I wasn’t. He didn’t need to make it personal. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever watch him again.”