Comedian charged after hacking inquiry pie hurling
The twitter account of anarchist comedian Jonnie Marbles, who attempted to attack Rupert Murdoch as he was questioned by a Parliamentary Select Committee, on July 19, 2011 in London, England.
A British comedian has been charged after hurling a foam pie towards Rupert Murdoch during yesterday’s dramatic parliamentary inquiry in London.
Jonathan May-Bowles – who goes by the stage name of Jonnie Marbles was charged by police, according to reports of Sky News.
Quoting a famous line from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, May-Bowles wrote on his Twitter account prior to the attack "It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat."
The Telegraph called the man a "left-wing activist."
Sky News reported the accused attacker had been charged with a public order offence.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, announced an investigation into the security breach, saying it was "wholly unacceptable".
Rupert Murdoch vowed today that his company would bounce back from the phone-hacking scandal, saying he would never tolerate such behaviour at his global empire.
Following the appearance before the committee, Murdoch released a message to News Corp staff, listing the "the urgent steps to address the past and ensure that serious problems never happen again."
"I am deeply sorry for the hurt that was caused," he wrote. "And we have taken responsibility. I have led this company for more than 50 years and have always imbued it with an audacious spirit. But I have never tolerated the kind of behaviour that has been described over these past few weeks. It has no place at News Corporation.
"These serious allegations made about some of our former employees at the News of the World directly contravene our codes of conduct and do not reflect the actions and beliefs of our many employees
Shares of News Corp rose by as much as 6.8 per cent in the hours following the committee proceedings. The company's stock had lost about 17 per cent of its value in the past few weeks.
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