Marvin Toatley was arrested Wednesday at an apartment complex in Columbia, South Carolina and charged with violently attacking comedian Steve Harvey
The angry heckler who police say violently attacked comedian Steve Brown during his gig at The Comedy House in South Carolina on Sunday evening has been arrested.
Marvin Toatley was arrested Wednesday at an apartment complex in Columbia, South Carolina, and booked into jail on three counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, TMZ reported.
He was also charged with one count of third degree assault and battery and one count of malicious injury to property.
Brown was attacked after picking Toatley out of the crowd for supposedly looking ‘grumpy.’
Toatley, who was sitting in the front row, lost control – leaping on the stage and attacking the comedian by wildly swinging a mic stand and then a bar stool at him.
His bond was set at $65,000 during a hearing on Wednesday, and he is still in custody.
Comedian Steve Brown (pictured here) was violently attacked during his gig at The Comedy House in South Carolina Sunday evening
An audience member sitting in the front row (pictured above) jumped on stage and began attacking Brown, which was caught on video and uploaded to Facebook
Brown also took to Instagram to show off the ghastly cut he received from the mic stand, he captioned the picture ‘Them mic stands are a b****. In the future Im gonna start pulling mic stands on these niccas… #thankscomedyhouse #wherewassecurity #imtooldforthisshit’
Brown took to Instagram to address the incident in a video. He captioned the video ‘First off let me start by saying thanks for the calls and messages from friends, fans and my family.’
‘With that being said, let me say this. This unprovoked attacked that happened to me tonight is a reminder of why these comedy clubs should have well equipped PROFESSIONAL security to protect us entertainers who bring their club so much money.’
‘I thank God for looking out for me and giving my old a** the ability to bob and weave because this could have ended in a horrible way’.
In the video the attacker, who was sitting in the front row, jumped on stage and began assaulting Brown, which was caught on video and uploaded to Facebook.
To begin with the two men are seen circling each one another with their fists up. However, things take a dramatic turn when the audience member reaches for the microphone stand and starts swinging it at Brown, which hits his arm.
All good: Brown was later able to joke about the incident in a video posted to Instagram (above)
It is unclear as to why the fight started but the individual who uploaded the video to Facebook said Brown asked the man what was his problem was
Clearly shocked and astounded the audience members began screaming while the man in question continued to swing the stand aggressively at Brown who was merely protecting himself.
The individual then threw the stand at him just missing the comedian and picked up a chair instead which he launched at Brown.
At this point people began to intervene, two men jump on the stage and ushered the attacker away.
People are seen escorting him off the stage while he can be heard yelling ‘get off me, get off me.’
In a rage the man returns to the stage topless to try and continue the brawl, however a man forced him to turn away.
The audience member can be seen swinging the stand aggressively at Brown (above)
The man was then escorted away after two other individuals intervened and took him off stage
It is unclear as to why the fight started but the individual who uploaded the video to Facebook said Brown asked the man what was his problem was.
Brown also took to Instagram to show off the ghastly cut he received from the mic stand, he captioned the picture ‘Them mic stands are a b****. In the future Im gonna start pulling mic stands on these niccas… #thankscomedyhouse #wherewassecurity #imtooldforthisshit.’
Despite being attacked and injured, naturally the comedian saw the funny side to it. His friend made a video with him comically doing a voice over.
Brown captioned the video ‘As a comic you have to some how find humor in tragedy and @kleonthecomedian found it. Yall this shit here FA- Lol Everyone can’t take a joke.’
In a later interview with TMZ, he said the attacker first ‘slapped’ his girlfriend.
‘The show was going really really well. I like to engage with my audience and he was having the time of his life. Later on in my set, he looked like he was dazed, like he was becoming somebody else.
‘Then I asked him what was wrong and him and his girl started getting in to it and then he slapped her.
‘Then his mom or somebody tried to hold him, and he kind of slammed her and that was when the one security guy came over.
‘After that the one security guy they had was on the side of the stage – just watching.
‘I would press charges’.
Brown took to Instagram to address the incident in a video. He captioned the video ‘First off let me start by saying Thanks for the calls and messages from friends, fans and my family’
He also said ‘I thank God for looking out for me and giving my old ass the ability to Bob and weave because this could have ended in a horrible way’