Comedian Bert Kreischer Unpacks Viral Tackling Of Protester At Inaugural Netflix Cup

deadline.com:

Comedian Bert Kreischer got more than he bargained for as host of Netflix’s first-ever live sports event, the Netflix Cup, when a female protester ran onto the scene at the Wynn Golf Course in Las Vegas and he instinctively sprang into action, tackling her on camera.

In an exclusive interview with Deadline, Kreischer explains that the events of Tuesday afternoon transpired so quickly, he barely recalled what happened in the aftermath. “When we got done, someone at Netflix came up to me and they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re going viral’ and I was like, ‘For what?’ And they’re like, ‘The protestor,'” Kreischer says. “I literally, honestly didn’t even think about it.

I really don’t have a recollection of it, other than being in production mode and being like, ‘Hey, you can’t get in the shot.'” Kreischer’s instinctual fear when he first saw protesters run out onto the golf course, given that their energy was “so f***ing crazy,” was that something really bad, like a mass shooting, was about to happen. “It was such an interesting thing because they had all these celebrities in the pit lane, is what they called it, and I was supposed to do interviews with everyone,” says the comic. “When those people came running out, this is going to sound really crazy, I kept thinking to myself when I was sitting there, ‘Man, this is where that [Vegas] shooting was.

This is crazy. If you’re going to do a shooting, you could kill a ton of celebrities right now.'” While looking to protect those participating in Netflix’s event, Kreischer hoped to minimize contact with the protester, to the extent he could. “I thought it was just like I was moving one of my daughters.