Rupert Murdoch hit with shaving cream during Parliament hearing

19 Jul, 2011 16:24 / Updated 13 years ago

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a protester wielding a shaving-cream pie during a widely watched UK Parliament hearing on the country’s phone-hacking scandal. The session was interrupted for 15 minutes.

The protester rushed at Murdoch during testimony on Tuesday and hit him with a paper plate filled with shaving cream. The foam appeared to have landed on Murdoch’s suit.

Watch the video of the incident

The man reportedly called him a “greedy billionaire."Murdoch’s wife Wendi jumped up and appeared to strike somebody in defense of her husband.Police say the attacker was immediately arrested. Video from the hearing showed police in the back of the room holding an apparently handcuffed man with white foam covering his face and shirt. The session restarted 15 minutes after the incident. The media mogul reappeared in the room in shirt sleeves, presumably because his jacket was covered in foam.Before being struck with the shaving-cream pie, the 80-year-old Rupert Murdoch confessed that this has been “the most humbling day” of his career.The offender’s identity was uncovered on Wednesday. He is Jonathan May-Bowles, a determined left-wing campaigner and occasional stand-up comedian known as “Jonnie Marbles”. London police charged 26-year-old May-Bowles Wednesday with behavior causing harassment and distress in a public place under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He is due to appear in City of Westminster Magistrates Court on July 29.