Brad Pitt Reveals Details of Vitalii Sediuk Red Carpet Attack
By Alex Stedman
Brad Pitt has broken his silence regarding the red carpet attack at the Maleficent premiere on May 28, explaining what happened between he and Ukrainian TV presenter Vitalii Sediuk.
Pitt attended the Maleficent premiere with wife and star of the movie Angelina Jolie. While he was signing autographs, Sediuk jumped the barriers and struck him in the face.
“I was at the end of the line signing autographs, when out the corner of my eye I saw someone stage-diving over the barrier at me. I took a step back; this guy had latched onto my lapels,” Pitt said in a statement, obtained by People Monday.
“I looked down and the nutter was trying to bury his face in my crotch, so I cracked him twice in the back of the head — not too hard — but enough to get his attention, because he did let go,” he went on. “I think he was then just grabbing for a hand hold because the guys were on him, and he reached up and caught my glasses.”
“I don’t mind an exhibitionist, but if this guy keeps it up he’s going to spoil it for the fans who have waited up all night for an autograph or a selfie, because it will make people more wary to approach a crowd. And he should know, if he tries to look up a woman’s dress again, he’s going to get stomped.”
Sediuk was immediately arrested and booked under suspicion of misdemeanor battery, with bail set at $20,000. Following the incident, a temporary restraining order was filed against Sediuk, and he was reportedly banned from all red carpet events.
Disney, the distributor of Maleficent, released the following statement after the attack: “This was an unfortunate and inappropriate incident that is being investigated by the LAPD.”
When mentioning looking up a women’s dress, Pitt was most likely referring to Sediuk’s attempt at Cannes to crawl under America Ferrera’s dress. Sediuk has also targeted other celebrities in the past, including Leonardo Dicaprio, Will Smith and Bradley Cooper.
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