Cruise ship magician speaks out after being attacked on stage by a woman’s jealous partner

A magician who was attacked by a jealous man while performing to an audience onboard a cruise ship has broken his silence after the traumatising ordeal and said it was particularly confusing given he is gay.

Ben Murphy was wowing the crowd with magic tricks on Royal Carribean’s Quantum of the Seas when he was attacked shortly after asking a female member of the audience onto the stage.

The magic trick, which Mr Murphy had been performing for over a decade, involved him and the woman leaning towards each other and using his mouth to touch a folded card wedged between her lips.

But seconds later an angry man, whose relationship with the woman is unknown, ran on stage and tackled Mr Murphy leaving a bruise on his arm.

The woman was seen pushing the man away, visibly upset with him, before he walked away. 

Mr Murphy claims that Royal Carribean have done little to rectify the situation, allegedly telling him that no one had seen the incident.

The magician recalled his perspective of the incident to A Current Affair on Wednesday night.

‘I mean, it’s kind of on a loop in my head,’ he said. 

‘I just remember this really angry looking face just dive out of the audience and jump on top of me.

‘My legs got slammed against the back of the stage and then I fell backwards and this angry face was just on top of me.

‘It’s just so sudden and so violent and so unnecessary.

‘It’s a comedy magic show with a guy in a sequined jacket who’s just openly talked about being gay.’ 

Mr Murphy quickly reported the incident to staff backstage after the man exited the packed theatre to an orchestra of boos.

However, he claims that he was told that there would be no action taken as there were no witnesses even though numerous audience members caught the incident on camera.

‘I found this really bizarre that there’s no witnesses,’ Mr Murphy said.

‘How I can be sat on stage and attacked in the middle of a show and there be no witnesses. It is just, it’s rubbish, it’s offensive. It’s negligent.’

Leaving the ship, Mr Murphy went straight to Queensland Police to report the incident even though Royal Carribean would not provide him with the name of his attacker.

‘My understanding is the police when I last spoke to them, still haven’t been provided the attacker’s name in a statement,’ Mr Murphy said.

Footage captured of the horrifying moment an shows Mr Murphy performing a trick with a female member of the audience before a man rushes the stage and tackled him

A statement from Royal Carribean to A Current Affair reads ‘At Royal Carribean International the safety of our crew and guests is our number one priority’.

‘We are aware of the incident that took place aboard Quantum of the Seas. Our investigation into this incident is ongoing and as such, we are unable to provide further comment,’ the statement continues.

Footage of the incident quickly reached social media, with users quickly swooping in to defend Murphy, sharing their shock at the footage.

‘We were in the audience for this and my jaw nearly hit the floor…. Feel sorry for not only you, but the poor wife and kids who saw the whole thing,’ one wrote.

Another added: ‘We were in the audience and it was absolutely nuts!’

‘We assumed he would have been locked in his cabin for the rest of the cruise and I’m fuming if he wasn’t! 

‘You did an amazing job continuing on with the rest of the show. Hope you’re doing ok.’

Murphy is a comedy magician and illusionist who has toured around the globe to perform his acts.